Academic salaries - quantitative data

Very interesting international comparison (I got there by way of Inside Higher Ed). I have a couple of comments concerning France (I wrote about the salaries of French researchers before):

• The gap between entry- and midlevel salaries seems too large (almost 1:2); the authors probably took the lowest rung on the published salary scale. However, this scale is antiquated, since it starts immediately after the PhD (thirty years ago, permanent positions were available for freshly minted doctors). Nowadays, an entry-level permanent position in research or higher education requires (in practice, not legally) at least three years of experience. Since the salary is determined by seniority, the effective entry salary is 20-25% higher than the minimum listed.
• The "other benefits" for France (in the Supplementary Contract Benefits table) are marked as "5 - Not offered as part of an academic contract". The "other benefits" are:

Child benefits, subsidized of free education for children, low pro[b]ability of unemployment, salary bonuses, travelling and conference allowances, social security (incl. disability) plans, alowances for participation in research

 Some of them (the first two and social security) are generally available in France, so they can technically be seen as "not part of an academic contract". For an international comparison, however, they are relevant. Also, professors are permanent state employees, which does imply a (very) "low pro[b]ability of unemployment".