Definition: Gross earnings

Category: Labour market

Gross earnings covered remuneration in cash paid directly and regularly by the employer at the time of each wage payment, before tax deductions and social security contributions payable by wage-earners and retained by the employer.

The following elements were included:

 - all payments relating to this period (even if actually paid outside the reference period), including any overtime pay, shift premium, bonus, commission etc.;
 - payments for overtime, allowances for team-work, night work, week-end work, commissions, etc.; 
 - bonuses and allowances paid regularly in each pay period, even if the amount varies from month to month; 
 - payments for periods of absence and work stoppage paid for entirely by the employer; 
 - family allowances and other gratuities fixed by collective agreements or voluntarily agreed; 

The following were not included:

 - payments paid in this period but relating to other periods, such as arrears, advances, of pay for holiday or sickness absence outside this period; 
 - periodic bonuses and gratuities not paid regularly at each pay date; 
 - payments for periods of absence paid by the employer at a reduced rate; 
 - statutory family allowances;
 - the value of benefits in kind (because of the difficulties of data collection); 
 - allowances for work clothes or tools; 
 - reimbursements or payments for travelling, subsistence etc. expenses incurred in carrying out the employer's business.

Gross earnings correspond in general to the expression "wages and salaries (excluding wages and salaries in kind)" used in statistics of labour costs