Salary increases of 3.5% for workers, employees, technicians and supervisors (OETAM) since the beginning of the year (compared to 4.6% last year) and 3.4% for executives (compared to 4% in 2023). Salary increases are continuing, but are for the moment less significant since the beginning of this year than in 2023, according to a study by the Deloitte firm published Friday, August 30.
The purchasing power of employees has nevertheless increased thanks to the slowdown in inflation, which was 2.3% over one year in July, according to INSEE. This trend should continue since the national statistics institute unveiled on Friday a first estimate of inflation in August over one year: for the first time since 2021, the increase in prices has fallen below the 2% mark.
Increasingly individual increases
Deloitte, which analyzed more than a million individual data from more than 300 companies, notes this year “a strong recourse to individualization” of salary increases. This means that the increases are personal and therefore different for each employee; for example, they can depend on the achievement of given objectives, which can increase competition.
100% individual increases now concern a majority of executives (51%, compared to 39% in 2023), and are becoming more common among other employees (34% compared to 25% in 2023).
Bonuses or variable shares, which represent between one and three months’ salary depending on the sector and level of responsibility, also continue to increase.
But the value sharing bonus (formerly the Macron bonus), which was a great success in 2023, has been on the decline since it was no longer tax-free. Less than a quarter (24%) of companies distributed it, compared to 53% last year, and the median amount of this bonus fell to 400 euros for executives and others, compared to 600 euros for OETAMs and 816 euros for executives in 2023.
The gender pay gap is widening again
The average pay gap between women and men to the detriment of the former will return to its 2022 level in 2024, at 3.8%, whereas it had fallen to 2.6% last year. A development that Deloitte explains by an increase in the feminization rate among senior executives (+2 points) and senior executives (+7 points), which “amplifies in the short term the pay gaps observed compared to their male counterparts” with more seniority. In addition, “the catch-up budgets” used to fill these gaps, “are no longer necessarily as large as before”, Franck Cheron, partner at the firm, told AFP.
As the use of teleworking becomes established with an average of two days per week, two thirds of companies had this year set up compensation for this, compared to half last year.
Finally, for 2025, the firm predicts increases of “slight decline” to 3% for all categories, “approaching pre-crisis levels”.