France: payroll employment rebounded in Q3 2020

According to the report from INSEE, between the end of June and the end of September 2020, payroll employment rebounded by 1.6%, that is 401,100 net job creations after –2,7% (–697,100 jobs) in the first semester. At the end of September 2020, it thus remained below its pre-crisis level at the end of 2019 (–295,900, or –1.2%), but returned to a level comparable to the end of 2018. The rebound over the quarter concerns both the private sector (+312,400 net creations, or +1.6%) and the public service (+88,700 jobs, or +1.5%). Over one year, employment declined in the private sector (–234,300 jobs or –1.2%) but increased in the public service (+27,000 jobs or +0.5%).

In the so-called «non-agricultural market sectors» field (industry, construction and market services), payroll employment has been measured in quaterly time series since the end of 1970. In the third quarter of 2020, it increased by 1.7% after –3.5% in the first semester of 2020. This is the highest quarterly increase recorded in this series.

Temporary employment had fallen by an unprecedented 40.4% in the first quarter (–318,000 jobs). In the second and third quarters of 2020, temporary employment increased sharply: +22.9% then +22.8% (i.e. +107,800 then +131,600 jobs). It nevertheless remains below its level of the previous year: –10.3%, or 81,100 job losses over one year.

In the third quarter of 2020, payroll employment excluding temporary workers rebounded (+1.1% or +269,600) after two quarters of sharp decline. It nevertheless remains below its level at the end of 2019 (–217,300).