After the private sector, the public service will also have its professional equality index in 2023

"We are going to introduce for the public service the equal pay index which has existed until now for the private sector", declared the Minister of Public Service Stanislas Guerini at the National Assembly, confirming comments made a few hours earlier. in an interview with the newspaper Liberation.

"This index will be a valuable tool for pointing out inequalities and above all getting all public employers to move", he continued, before mentioning a legislative amendment "by the summer".

The index will measure "unequal pay, promotion but also those concerning management positions", detailed the Ministry of the Public Service. It will apply to the State civil service from 2023 before being extended to the territorial and hospital sides of the public sector in 2024.

According to the latest figures available, women represent nearly two thirds of the 5,7 million public officials in France but occupy only 43% of the best paid and most prestigious jobs. The remuneration of women is 12% lower than that of men (the gap rises to 15% in the private sector).

Since 2020, on March 1 of each year, all companies with more than 50 employees must publish their score obtained the previous year under the professional equality index.

This score out of 100 includes five criteria: the gap in remuneration, annual increases and promotions, increases on return from maternity leave and the share of women in the ten highest salaries. When the score is below 75, the company must take action within three years.

In the civil service too, "financial sanctions will be pronounced against the administrations which do not publish the index or do not take corrective measures within three years", specified the ministry.

According to a recent study carried out by the Institute of Public Policy for the CFDT, the professional equality index has however only had a limited effect in the private sector.

Whether in terms of the wage gap, the difference in increase or the highest salaries, "there is no detectable effect of the index in the short term", thus estimated the coordinator of the Thomas Breda investigation.