OECD deplores "unprecedented" wage stagnation



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PARIS (Reuters) – The employment situation has improved markedly and has returned to pre-crisis levels in most OECD countries, but this upturn is eclipsed by persistent stagnation in wages

Despite the recovery of economic growth and the average employment rate and the return of the average unemployment rate to its pre-crisis level, "wage growth remains much more gloomy than before the financial crisis. ", laments the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in the 2018 edition of its employment outlook, released Wednesday.

On the employment front "it is good news to see that ten years later (…) we have returned to the pre-crisis situation", but "for the majority of the citizens of the 'This is not reflected in higher wages and there is still a big one missing, it is the increase in wages,' said Secretary General Angel Gurria at a conference Wednesday in Paris.

In the meantime, the average growth of real wages in the OECD area went from 2.2% before the crisis to 1.2% today, he said.

This phenomenon is all the more worrying "because it affects low-paid workers far more than those who are at the top of the salary scale," says the OECD in its report.

This stagnation has been fueled by low inflation, a slowdown in productivity improvements and the growing proportion of low-paid jobs, such as part-time work or low wages for people who have returned to work. employment after a long period of unemployment.

But the OECD also points to the impact of cutting-edge innovation and technology companies – nicknamed "superstars" – that create more value while using less work.

A GOOD POINT FOR FRANCE

On the strength of this observation, the organization stresses "the urgent need for countries to support workers, and especially the least qualified among them," in order to help them "adapt to the rapid transformation of the world of work and to make the most of it and (to) ensure that growth benefits everyone. "

In the absence of stagnating wage stagnation," public confidence in the economic recovery will be jeopardized and inequalities will widen in the labor market, "warns the OECD.

In this context, it considers "welcome" the reform of unemployment insurance and training under examination by the French Parliament.

According to the OECD, the enlargement to the resigning and self-employed – conditionally – of unemployment insurance would be an adaptation to less linear career paths and the growth of self-employment, while the training component could help to fill the gap. delay French workers in this field and provide them with the skills required by employers.

More generally, the OECD notes that France is only at the "mid-point" of the post-crisis recovery of the labor market, with an unemployment rate that remains 1.6 percentage points higher than at the beginning of 2008 and is 3.4 points above the OECD average.

With overall indicators well oriented on the quality of employment (income or stress for example) and inclusiveness on the labor market (gender pay gap, for example), France, on the other hand, shows "a difference in the employment rate of disadvantaged groups" compared to that of men of working age "relatively high compared to the average of OECD, especially for young people "

(Myriam Rivet, edited by Yves Clarisse)

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