How to explain the drop in salaries?
28 August 2009
Read by 1843 persons
Text: The rate of change in salaries has been decreasing over the past three years. At least, that's what the official figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INS) indicate. Salaries in the first quarter of 2006 increased by 2.07% compared to the same period in 2005. This increase decreased to 1.11% when comparing 2007 to 2006. It is now only 0.77% when comparing 2008 to 2007. The INS figures are all the more questionable since the majority of salaries are experiencing annual increases. What are the reasons for the observed discrepancies? How can the resulting imbalances be explained? Are some sectors more affected than others? Do the level and nature of training and diplomas play a role in salary distribution?
Reviews of sectoral agreements between employer and employee representatives, both in the public and private sectors, are carried out every three years. They grant salary increases of around 3.25% during the periods included in the statistics. These annual increases of 3.25% (or more, as in 2009, depending on the specific terms of the reviews) affect nearly two million employees: 650,000 in the public service and public companies and nearly 1.3 million employees in the private sector. We can conclude that other salaries have not followed suit. These are either new recruits or non-agricultural employees not covered by collective agreements. Their number amounts to nearly 600,000 employees.
A look at recent recruitment in industry and services partly explains this discrepancy. Thus, a graduate engineer (without experience) who earned 600 dinars as a starting salary in the late 1990s, now only earns 400 dinars (including the "SIVP" internship allowance). Of course, we are not talking about graduates from a few elite grandes écoles (ENSI and SUP COM) who are targeted by industrial companies and generally go abroad for further studies and industrial research. As an indication, the monthly allowance for such an aspiring researcher is 1800 Euros (3400 dinars).
Salaries offered to new graduates in management or economics (after the SIVP internship) are far from exceeding the allowances they received during their summer internships. Many work for 300 dinars or less. Others do not work in their fields of training and their salaries are limited to the 250 dinars of a SMIGARD working as salespeople, secretaries or receptionists. These various jobs are included in the statistics and negatively influence the salary growth rate. Employers justify this by the limited know-how of these graduates. Employees consider it better than vegetating in unemployment.
Such a situation clearly indicates an imbalance between supply and demand in the labor market. To be more precise, we can see the consequences of a mismatch between the needs of the labor market and the profiles of available graduates. Employers claim that they cannot find graduates who provide clear added value from their recruitment, which could justify high remuneration from day one.
As for graduates, they have not benefited from real immersion in the world of work that could provide them with the necessary know-how. Even the internships they have undertaken during their studies are never raised to the level of real apprenticeship. Only graduates in a few cutting-edge sectors such as ICT, petrochemicals or mechanical engineering are still sought after and highly paid. Others are underpaid as graduates, as their added value to the company is limited.
Therefore, it seems that the decline in salaries for first-time hires explains the decline in the rate of salary growth. This observation places the administration in a real dilemma. Should we remain silent in the face of such a situation, justifying it by the fact that the employee is not underpaid as long as they occupy a job that is inadequate to their academic abilities? Should we reprimand the employer, at the risk of closing the door to these "underemployment" alternatives?
Many problems stem from the labor market's reluctance regarding the nature of the diplomas awarded by the university. This reluctance calls for consultation when designing diplomas. A first solution has been proposed for co-constructed applied bachelor's degrees. Thirty licenses are already under development and the result seems to satisfy all stakeholders. Is this an alternative for the salary level of new graduates? Only time will tell…
Mounir Ben Mahmoud
Published on August 28, 2009
Posted online on August 28, 2009
businessnews
Reviews of sectoral agreements between employer and employee representatives, both in the public and private sectors, are carried out every three years. They grant salary increases of around 3.25% during the periods included in the statistics. These annual increases of 3.25% (or more, as in 2009, depending on the specific terms of the reviews) affect nearly two million employees: 650,000 in the public service and public companies and nearly 1.3 million employees in the private sector. We can conclude that other salaries have not followed suit. These are either new recruits or non-agricultural employees not covered by collective agreements. Their number amounts to nearly 600,000 employees.
A look at recent recruitment in industry and services partly explains this discrepancy. Thus, a graduate engineer (without experience) who earned 600 dinars as a starting salary in the late 1990s, now only earns 400 dinars (including the "SIVP" internship allowance). Of course, we are not talking about graduates from a few elite grandes écoles (ENSI and SUP COM) who are targeted by industrial companies and generally go abroad for further studies and industrial research. As an indication, the monthly allowance for such an aspiring researcher is 1800 Euros (3400 dinars).
Salaries offered to new graduates in management or economics (after the SIVP internship) are far from exceeding the allowances they received during their summer internships. Many work for 300 dinars or less. Others do not work in their fields of training and their salaries are limited to the 250 dinars of a SMIGARD working as salespeople, secretaries or receptionists. These various jobs are included in the statistics and negatively influence the salary growth rate. Employers justify this by the limited know-how of these graduates. Employees consider it better than vegetating in unemployment.
Such a situation clearly indicates an imbalance between supply and demand in the labor market. To be more precise, we can see the consequences of a mismatch between the needs of the labor market and the profiles of available graduates. Employers claim that they cannot find graduates who provide clear added value from their recruitment, which could justify high remuneration from day one.
As for graduates, they have not benefited from real immersion in the world of work that could provide them with the necessary know-how. Even the internships they have undertaken during their studies are never raised to the level of real apprenticeship. Only graduates in a few cutting-edge sectors such as ICT, petrochemicals or mechanical engineering are still sought after and highly paid. Others are underpaid as graduates, as their added value to the company is limited.
Therefore, it seems that the decline in salaries for first-time hires explains the decline in the rate of salary growth. This observation places the administration in a real dilemma. Should we remain silent in the face of such a situation, justifying it by the fact that the employee is not underpaid as long as they occupy a job that is inadequate to their academic abilities? Should we reprimand the employer, at the risk of closing the door to these "underemployment" alternatives?
Many problems stem from the labor market's reluctance regarding the nature of the diplomas awarded by the university. This reluctance calls for consultation when designing diplomas. A first solution has been proposed for co-constructed applied bachelor's degrees. Thirty licenses are already under development and the result seems to satisfy all stakeholders. Is this an alternative for the salary level of new graduates? Only time will tell…
Mounir Ben Mahmoud
Published on August 28, 2009
Posted online on August 28, 2009
businessnews
