• The average monthly salary of a civil servant is 2,599 euros.

  • Remuneration has tended to stagnate since 2011.

  • The gender pay gap is still very real.

How much can you expect to earn by working in the public service?

An INSEE study published on Monday provides some answers.

It only concerns the State civil service (FPE, excluding hospitals and communities), which employs 2.2 million people.

In 2019 [latest data available], the median salary * in this branch amounted to 2,406 euros per month net.

This is 535 euros more than the median salary of the private sector (1,871 euros net).

The average salary amounted to 2,599 euros per month, a very slight decrease compared to 2018 (- 0.1%), taking inflation into account **.

On the graph below, we can see that this average salary has alternated increases and decreases between 2011 and 2019. A real difference with the private sector, whose average salary has continued to increase over the same period, even if its level (2,369 euros) remains lower than that of the civil service.

Very different categories

Obviously, civil service employees are treated differently depending on their category (A, B or C) and their status (civil servant or contractual, that is to say without guarantee of employment).

Thus, "non-officials", who represent a quarter of the workforce, earn on average 660 euros less (2,111 euros against 2,776 euros) than their established colleagues.

Belonging to a category is also a very strong determinant.

Category A officials (executives) have an average net salary of 3,005 euros per month, while that of category B (police officers, for example) is 2,517 euros per month, and that of category C (prison supervisors, storekeepers) is 2,018 euros per month.

Gender equality to improve

As in the private sector, gender equality is far from being achieved.

“Women more often occupy the least remunerative positions,” notes INSEE.

Among the 10% of the lowest paid employees [who receive less than 1,548 euros net per month], 70% are women ”.

In addition, “women more frequently have professional careers involving periods of part-time work or career breaks which weigh on their salary trajectories”.

In the end, the average salary of women in the public service remains 13.6% lower than that of men.

For an identical profile (age, diploma, hierarchical position, working time), the difference is still 3% in favor of men.

* The median salary divides the study population into two equal parts: 50% earn more than the median, 50% earn less.

It thus allows, unlike the average salary, to have a better representation of inequalities.

** We then speak of salaries in “constant euros”.

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  • Public service

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  • Salary

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  • INSEE