The gap continues to widen between private sector employees and civil servants. Over a period of ten years, the former saw their salaries increase twice as quickly as the latter, according to figures published by INSEE this Wednesday, October 25.
Between 2011 and 2021, “full-time equivalent net salary increased on average by 4.9% in constant euros in the private sector”, compared to 2.1% in the public sector. That is a respective increase of 0.4% and 0.2% per year.
Gaps between civil servants
Please note, however, that not all public officials are in the same boat. If the remuneration of civil servants alone – excluding contract workers – has increased by 2.6% in ten years, and by 4.4% for category C civil servants, the net salary of category A has decreased by 1.1%. The same as that of categories B, which recorded a decline of 0.2%.
The fact remains that after a “slight decline” during the 2010s, the salaries of public officials have “rebounded significantly” since 2020 thanks to the upgrading measures taken in hospitals following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lower gender pay gaps in the public
We still had to wait until 2022 for the basic remuneration of civil servants to be unfrozen, and to undergo an initial increase of 3.5%. A second of 1.5% was recorded in 2023. A boon for public officials who had not seen their salaries increase since 2010 – with the exception of a slight increase of 1.2% in 2016 -2017.
But if salary progression has been slower than in the private sector, the public service, on the other hand, stands out with smaller pay gaps between men and women. They are around 11.3% among civil servants, compared to 14.5% in businesses.