The first quarter of 2024 will have ended with good news for employees of private sector companies: at the end of March, the basic monthly salary index (or SMB, which represents the gross salary before deduction of social contributions and payment of social benefits, bonuses or overtime/additional hours) increased faster than inflation over one year. Calculated between March 2023 and March 2024, the average differential stands at +1.1 % (the SMB having increased by 3.3 % over this period and consumer prices of 2.2 %), indicate provisional figures from the Ministry of Labor (Dares). In detail, and adjusted for inflation, the SMB thus increased over one year by +1.4 % in industry, +0.8 % in construction, +1.1 % in the tertiary sector. The basic monthly salaries of workers and employees show the largest increases: respectively + 1.6 % and + 1.3 %. SMB increased by +0.8 % for intermediate professions and + 0.6 % for executives.
2021, the purchasing power of salaries in the private sector fell by 5.03 %
However, if we look at developments since the start of the inflation episode, in 2021, the backlog accumulated by wages is still very far from being made up. Thus, basic monthly salaries in the private sector increased by +9.77 % (between December 2020 and December 2023) while, according to INSEE, consumer prices increased by 14.8 % over the period. In other words, over this same period, the purchasing power of these salaries fell by 5.03 % ! And the deterioration is even worse in the public sector since the index point – basis for calculating the treatment/salary of civil servants and contract workers – has only increased by 5 % over the period… In other words, the purchasing power of salaries in the public fell by 9.8 % since 2021 !
