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MONEY

Working in France: What can you expect to earn?

If you want to work in France, it's helpful to know what you can expect to earn - here's a look at the industry-standard salaries on offer in a range of different jobs.

Published: 16 September 2022 15:28 CEST
Working in France: What can you expect to earn?
Marie-Chantal Baumstarck, a middle-school English teacher at du Roy d'Espagne, in Marseille, southern France, on the eve of the 2014 school year. (Photo by BORIS HORVAT / AFP)

If you want to work in France one of the key questions is how much can you expect to earn? France is not generally known as a high-wage country, although on the other hand the cost-of-living in some areas is also quite low.

READ ALSO How much money do you need to live in France?

French daily newspaper Le Parisien has put together a ‘salary simulator’ where you can check the industry standard for your profession, covering a wide range of different types of jobs.

With the obvious caveat that a lot depends on your experience, whether your qualifications are recognised in France and whether (if applicable) you speak French, you can check out the simulator HERE. 

Below are five examples of standard rates of pay (annual, before tax) using the salary simulator, for jobs popular with foreigners in France;

Tech

France has been making a big effort to attract tech workers in recent years. It has even launched the ‘French Tech Visa’ – a type of ‘passeport talent’ (you can read more about this residency permit HERE) that allows you to work in France for up to four years if you have been offered a job at an eligible French company.

French President Emmanuel Macron also launched the “Choose France” campaign to attract foreign investment in French tech, as well as to make France a more appealing place to work for technology workers. The website Welcome to France (written in English) is also geared toward attracting foreign talent and start-ups, and offers links to tech-specific job boards for English-speakers looking to work in France.

To give an example of this, we picked the average salary expectations for a “Data Scientist or ML Developer”

With 0 to 2 years experience in the field: Between €40,000 and €45,00
With 2 to 5 years experience: Between €45,000 and €60,000
With 5 to 10 years experience: Between €60,000 and €70,000
With 10 to 15 years experience: Between €70,000 and more than €80,000
With 15 years experience or more: Between €70,000 and more than €80,000

Healthcare Assistant/ Worker

A shortage of healthcare workers means there are plenty of jobs in this sector – but many roles require French qualifications.

Foreigners looking to work in French healthcare might consider being a healthcare assistant or aide – more accessible professions which require less country-specific training.

For this field, we chose a ‘healthcare assistant’ at a care facility for the salary example:

0 to 2 years : Between €21,000 and €24,000
2 to 5 years : Between €24,000 and €28,000
5 to 10 years : Between €28,000 and €32,000
10 to 15 years: Between €32,000 and €36,000
15 years and more : Between €32,000 and €36,000

Marketing and Public Relations

As many French companies and businesses seek to increase their appeal to English-speaking audiences, your status as an anglophone could come in handy. The website Emploi Strategies is focused on jobs in marketing and PR, with many ob postings asking that candidates either be bilingual or speak some level of English in order to apply. 

We chose the role of “Product Manager” for the example within this field. 

0 to 2 years : Between €30,000 and €35,000
2 to 5 years : Between €35,000 and €45,000
5 to 10 years : Between €45,000 and €55,000
10 to 15 years: Between €45,000 and €55,000
15 years and more : Between €45,000 and €55,000

Tourism

This is a field that is accessible for English-speaking foreigners – France is the world’s most-visited tourist destination and the relaxation of Covid-related travel restrictions helped create a huge rebound in tourism in France, particularly on the part of American tourists, who made up around 12.7 percent of foreign tourists in 2022.

With an influx of English-speaking tourists, as well as a minimum level of English often being a stated requirement for those working in France’s tourism industry, being a native speaker could be in your favour.

We chose the example of an “Account Manager”:

0 to 2 years : Between €28,000 and €35,000.
2 to 5 years : Between €30,000 and €38,000
5 to 10 years : Between €35,000 and €45,000
10 to 15 years: More than €45,000
15 years and more : More than €45,000

Local variations

The data comes from PageGroup, a firm specialising in executive recruitment, who analysed the majority of salaries offered in the first half of 2022 – encompassing over 800 jobs in 24 sectors across France.

Some career fields might not be listed on the simulator, particularly those pertaining to public servants whose salaries are indexed.

French salaries will also depend on region – you can expect to earn more in the Greater Paris area than in other parts of the country. On average, salaries were between five to ten percent lower than Paris in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Pays de la Loire and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, 15 percent lower in Brittany and Occitania, and up to 20 percent lower in Centre-Val-de-Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Normandy, the Grand Est and Hauts-de-France.

If you did not see your industry listed above, you can try the job simulator HERE.

Education

This is another common field for foreigners seeking to work in France. Education is one of the ten fields that the French government expects to be hiring the most in the next ten years.

Additionally, English-language instruction has become more of a priority for the French Education Ministry, particularly after launching its Emergency English learning plan for French public schools.

Teaching is not included on Le Parisien’s salary simulator as teachers are considered ‘fonctionnaires‘ (civil servants) in France, however the government does publish national pay scales for teachers. 

Keep in mind that if you are looking to teach English in France, you will need a TEFL certificate. If you are looking to work as a secondary school teacher generally, you must pass the “Capes” examination (Certificat d’Aptitude au Professorat de l’Enseignement du Second degré). 

You can see the table for teacher salaries based on seniority below – unlike the salaries listed above, these are displayed as after-tax. 

Education Minister Pap Ndiaye announced in August that starting in September 2023, first year educators will earn €2,000 (post-tax) per month, and that there will also be increases for teachers in the “middle of their career” by the same date.

As of September 2022, a first year teacher earned approximately €19,680 per year after taxes. For a teacher with four years of experience, this amount would be closer to €28,068 after taxes.

The table with salary levels by teacher seniority, as of January 2022, from the education ministry can be seen below:

Table by Education.gouv.fr

The education ministry also has its own salary simulator, that you can find HERE for more precise estimates based on your situation.

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For members

LIVING IN FRANCE

5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

Now that the dust has settled from the somewhat chaotic post-Brexit period, the system for swapping a UK driving licence for a French one seems to be running fairly smoothly. There are, however, some things that UK licence holders need to know.

Published: 3 May 2024 17:20 CEST
5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

This article is aimed at holders of a UK or Northern Ireland driving licence who are living in France – tourists, visitors and second-home owners can continue to drive in France on a UK licence and do not need an international driving permit.

British students who are studying in France on a student visa can continue to drive on their UK licence during their studies – if however they settle in France afterwards, they need to follow the below process for swapping their licence. 

1 You’re special

Well, maybe special is over-stating it, but the system for holders of UK and NI licence holders is different to that of other non-EU nationals, and also different to the system for EU licence holders.

The reason for this is that a pragmatic post-Brexit agreement was (finally) reached between France and the UK, in order to avoid the chaos that was triggered when thousands of Brits in France all tried to swap their driving licences at once.

Unlike almost all other post-Brexit agreements, this one applies both to people who moved to France before the end of Brexit transition period in 2021 and those who have moved here since. 

The below terms apply to everyone who has a UK or NI licence, regardless of their nationality or when they moved to France. 

2 But you still have to swap

It was technically always the case that Brits who were living in France should have swapped their licence for a French one, just as other EU licence holders do now, but in reality many people lived here for years or decades without ever exchanging their licence and there was little or no enforcement of the rule.

That has now changed and you must swap according to the following timetable;

If your UK licence was issued after January 1st, 2021 – you must swap within one year of moving to France.

If your UK licence was issued before January 1st 2021 – you only swap when you meet one of the following conditions;

  • The licence itself or the photocard is within six months of its expiry date. For more people the photocard expiry will come around first, but UK licences also require renewal when the holder reaches the age of 70
  • Your licence has been lost or stolen
  • You have been ordered to exchange your licence by a gendarme after committing a driving offence

For people who are exchanging because the licence is about to expire, it is important that you don’t start the process until your licence is within six months of the expiry date – early applications will simply be rejected.

3 It might not be as much of a nightmare as you think 

Unlike the old days when licence swaps were done by préfectures, the whole process has now moved online and is run through a single, central system.

The online portal for requesting a swap is known as ANTS and you can find it HERE.

If you haven’t used it before you will need to create an online account, or if you already have online accounts for French government services such as Ameli or tax declarations you can login by clicking on the France Connect button.

Once logged in, select Je demande l’échange ou l’enregistrement de mon permis de conduire étranger (I request the exchange or registration of a foreign driving licence) and fill in the details requested on the form such as name, address etc.

You might be pleasantly surprised by the fact the form itself is relatively straightforward (as French admin forms go), asking basic questions such as your personal details and the details of your driving licence.

You will have to upload supporting documents, but these are likely to be things that you already have to hand including

  • Proof of ID (passport or carte de séjour)
  • Proof of address (a recent utility bill or attestation from your utility provider)
  • If your driver’s licence is in a different name to your passport, you will need to supply your full birth certificate

You will also need to supply a photo – you can either use the internet-enabled Photomaton booths – find your nearest here – to create a digital photo with the required security code, or you can use the normal photo booths to print out a physical photo and send it by post after you have made your application. 

Once completed, you can use the ANTS site to track the progress of your application and upload any other documents that are requested.

4 But don’t leave it too late 

If you’re applying because your licence is about to expire then you cannot apply until you are within six months of the expiry date.

But it’s a good idea not to leave it until the last minute as the whole process does take time – things have improved massively since the dark days of 2020 and 2021 when people were waiting for years and their licences expired while they waited.

But it still takes time – the current average for a straightforward application with no extra documents required seems to be between four and five months, although processing times can vary, especially over holiday periods.

It’s therefore a good idea to make the application fairly soon after you enter that magic six-month window.

Once you make the application you should get an automated response acknowledging receipt – this is usually sent by SMS and/or email, it’s a good idea to check your spam folder if you don’t get the email.

Don’t panic if you don’t then hear anything for the next few weeks or even months, this appears to be normal. If your application is complete and there are no outstanding queries or other documents required, the next step will be a request to send in your old UK licence.

You send this by post (recorded delivery with a signature is strongly recommended) and at the same time you can download an Attestation de Depot de Permis de Conduire (certificate of deposit of driving licence) – you can use this to prove your continued entitled to drive in the period between sending in your old licence and receiving your new one.

Your French licence is then sent by registered post, and the window between posting the old licence and receiving the new one is usually not more than a month, you 

5 Help is out there 

If your application runs into problems or you have an untypical situation or find the ANTS website hard to use, don’t panic – help is available.

The Facebook group Driving in France – French Licence Applications is a good place to start with comprehensive guides and knowledgeable admins who are quick to respond to questions.

You can also chat to others in your situation and get updates on how long processing times seem to be.

If you have problems using the online system, your local France Services office may be able to help.

You can also head to The Local’s reader questions section, or email us at [email protected] if you have questions.

Digital licences

You might have heard about France’s new digital driving licence – unfortunately this is only available to people who have French citizenship (including dual nationals).

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