Each time INSEE publishes a new study on salaries, the business world holds its breath. Not out of simple statistical curiosity, but because these figures tell the story of the environment in which managers, founders and entrepreneurs operate. Recruit, motivate, retain, anticipate: it all starts with a detailed understanding of salary dynamics.
The latest study provides valuable, even essential, insight. In 2023, 1% of private sector employees earned more than 10,219 euros net per month, or 7.5 times the minimum wage. At the same time, the median salary stood at 2,730 euros net in 2022. Two figures, but two worlds. For an entrepreneur, this divide is not an abstraction: it directly influences the HR strategies, the room for maneuver, the competitiveness and the capacity of attraction of his company.
This article explores what this data really means for those who create, manage and transform French companies.
1/ The salary landscape: an economic, but also strategic, fact
Entrepreneurs know it better than anyone: salary is never a simple cost. It’s a lever. A signal. An investment. But to master this lever, you still need to understand the reality of the market.
The top 1% of employees concentrate rare talents, critical skills, expert profiles from key sectors: finance, tech, industry, consulting, cutting-edge engineering. These overpaid professions push up some of the salary scales, but not all. The majority of the market remains anchored around the median salary.
For a leader, this means one simple thing: the war for talent is asymmetric.
Some positions are becoming more and more expensive. Others remain relatively accessible. The whole challenge is knowing where to position your company and how to build a coherent salary policy.
2/ What does the “top 1%” employee look like? And why this concerns entrepreneurs
The INSEE study draws up a typical profile:
- Man (still overwhelmingly)
- Senior executive or manager
- Highly qualified
- Located in mainland Franceespecially in Île-de-France
- In sectors with high added value
Why is this of interest to an entrepreneur, even outside of these sectors?
Because this top 1% acts like a magnet on the job market. It imposes a benchmark, a standard for indirect remuneration. Even if an SME is not intended to offer salaries of 10,000 euros, it is impacted by the expectations that are spread among executives, by comparisons, by the tension in certain professions.
In other words: the top of the market pulls everything else. And to ignore these movements is to risk being disconnected.
3/ Median salary: the real indicator for managers
In the majority of French companies, especially SMEs and VSEs, it is not the top 1% that determines the field, but rather the median salary. At 2,730 euros net, it embodies daily reality:
- intermediate skills,
- technical positions,
- support functions,
- the operational roles that allow a structure to operate.
It is this base, often invisible, which determines internal cohesion, team satisfaction and loyalty. For an entrepreneur, the median salary is a compass. It makes it possible to calibrate realistic salary scales, competitive without being excessive, attractive without weakening cash flow.
4/ What the gaps reveal: a polarization that forces entrepreneurs to make choices
The gap between the middle and the top is widening. And if this seems distant, it is actually a major strategic signal.
For what ? Because the polarization of the labor market creates three challenges for entrepreneurs:
1. Increased competition for rare talents
Tech experts, industrial engineers, data scientists, specialized financiers… are seeing their prices rise. To attract them, an SME must find other levers: flexibility, meaning, autonomy, participation, internal culture.
2. Pressure on middle managers
They are not part of the top 1%, but observe what is happening there. The risk: a gap between their expectations and what the company can offer.
3. A tension on internal cohesion
When the pay gap widens, the importance of transparency, dialogue and perceived fairness becomes crucial.
Successful entrepreneurs are not those who pay the best, but those who explain betterwho better structure their decisions, which give meaning.
5/ What these figures actually change in the management of a business
The INSEE study is not a simple report: it is a decision-making tool. Here’s what an entrepreneur can get from it:
1. Rethink your recruitment strategy
- Identify “rare” positions where remuneration must be adjusted.
- Strengthen the employer brand to compensate for an inability to align salaries with large groups.
- Focus on learning, internal development, training.
2. Adjust salary scales
Even without blowing budgets, it is possible to:
- smooth out the gaps,
- make the progressions more readable,
- introduce targeted performance bonuses,
- use non-monetary benefits.
3. Anticipate the expectations of new generations
Young graduates are entering the market with a more critical view of salary gaps. They want to understand:
- why a salary,
- how it evolves,
- what real trajectory is possible.
A company that communicates clearly on these topics immediately stands out.
4. Build an internal economic culture
Employees are increasingly sensitive to transparency.
A leader gains from:
- explain the costs,
- present the margins,
- show the real arbitrations,
- involve teams in results when possible.
6/ Towards a labor market that imposes a new role on entrepreneurs
INSEE figures show a country where gaps are widening, but where the value of work is also evolving. For entrepreneurs, this means one thing: the days when salary was enough to attract and retain are behind us.
The relationship with work is changing. Expectations change. Priorities change.
The leaders who succeed tomorrow will be those who know:
- speak truth,
- give meaning,
- offer professional experience that goes beyond remuneration,
- build plural teams where everyone finds their place.
But it begins with a lucid understanding of the landscape: a market where the top 1% inspires or irritates, where the median structures the majority, and where entrepreneurs navigate between ambition, constraints and responsibilities.
7/ What entrepreneurs should remember
- The top 1% earns more than €10,219: an indicator, not a model to follow.
- The median salary at €2,730: this is where everything comes into play for 80% of companies.
- The gaps are widening: we must compensate with transparency, meaning and a solid internal culture.
- The market is becoming more complex: salary policy is becoming a strategic tool, not just a budget.
INSEE figures not only tell where France is: they show entrepreneurs how to better anticipate, build better and manage better.
