Value sharing bonus (PPV) payments by companies in France fell by more than half in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same period last year, after the end of its tax exemption, reported INSEE this Wednesday, May 15.
The amount paid to employees thus fell to 490 million euros in the first quarter, compared to 1.2 billion in the first quarter of 2023 and 2.3 billion in the last quarter of 2023, specifies the National Institute of Statistics. Since July 2022, the value sharing bonus has replaced the exceptional purchasing power bonus implemented in 2019, called the “Macron bonus”. It can amount to up to 6,000 euros per employee.
Slowdown in the increase in hourly wages
In 2024, the exemption from social contributions is maintained but it no longer includes, as in 2022 and 2023, the exemption from CSG and CRDS. And while until now, the bonus was exempt from income tax for employees earning up to three times the minimum wage, this advantage is only maintained if the bonus is allocated to a savings plan or for employees who are part of a company with fewer than 50 employees (and earning less than three times the minimum wage).
The fall in PPV payments explains “in part” the slowdown in the increase in hourly wages, which increased by 2.8% year-on-year in the first quarter compared to 3.1% in the previous quarter, details INSEE. Due to the taxation of the PPV, “the drop over one year in payments of this bonus has had a greater impact on the annual growth of wages than that of hourly labor costs”, which increased by 3% in the first quarter, further notes the ‘institute.