2023-10-10 11:22:57
Margaux Fodéré / Photo credits: Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
modified to
2:39 p.m., October 10, 2023
Should salaries be increased? The question was at the heart of discussions between the Prime Minister and union representatives on Monday in Matignon. Discussions will continue next week with the salary conference. This year, salary increases are expected to reach 4.5% on average. Not sure this will last next year. For more than one in three business leaders, granting salary increases will be complicated, according to the Salary Guide 2024 from the recruitment firm Robert Half.
14% of business leaders plan not to increase salaries
In detail, 21% of business leaders declare that they will not be able to increase salaries at the same rate as this year. 14% of employers are even considering not increasing salaries by a single cent. For good reason, the year 2024 promises to be more uncertain than the current year.
For Jean-Marc Pierry, manager of a glassworks in the Paris region, this is explained by energy prices. This year, he was able to increase all of his employees – around fifteen – but for next year, nothing has yet been decided. “It will depend on the increases we have or not on raw materials. The ovens run on gas or electricity. So today, being able to claim to give an increase next year to all employees, we are unable to say it…” he testifies at the microphone of Europe 1.
Raising wages is obviously not without cost for the company. “The increase in wages in 2023 obviously has an impact on society. We did it because we might do it, but it cut into the margin,” he continues.
A word of caution: caution
Like Jean-Marc Pierry, other business leaders are still navigating by sight. Inflation forces them to be cautious, as Albane Armand, regional director at Robert Half, explains. “We had a mixed year in 2023 in terms of overall growth for companies. The immediate and quite natural response for companies will be to reduce costs as much as possible, with salaries being an integral part of the costs of ‘business.”
For companies that plan to increase their employees in 2024, these increases should reach 4 to 5% on average, as in 2023, i.e. more than the inflation expected by the Banque de France (around 2.8%).
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