France Payroll Employment Stays Stable In Q4

After seven quarters of expansion, France payroll employment remained unchanged at the end of the year as weak economic activity dampened job creation particularly in market services, flash data revealed Wednesday.

Private payroll employment held steady in the fourth quarter, following a 0.6 percent rise in the third quarter, the statistical office INSEE reported.

Job creations increased by 3,000 compared to 119,100 jobs in the preceding quarter. Private payroll employment exceeded the level seen at the end of 2021 by 1.5 percent or 304,900 jobs.

Data showed that temporary employment increased 0.8 percent, much weaker than the 1.9 percent rise in the previous quarter.

Excluding temporary work, industrial private payroll employment growth slowed down to 0.1 percent from +0.5 percent in the previous quarter.

Employment in construction and market services remained flat, while that in agriculture gained 1.7 percent. At the same time, jobs in goods producing industries gained only 0.1 percent.

Detailed estimate for the fourth quarter is due on March 9.

The recent Purchasing Managers’ survey results showed that payroll employment increased across manufacturing and service sectors in January. The job creation was the quickest in three months. However, overall private sector economy continued to log contraction on falling orders.

In the fourth quarter, the second-largest euro area economy expanded only 0.1 percent, following a 0.2 percent rise in the third quarter.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund projected France GDP to grow 0.7 percent this year and 1.6 percent in 2024.

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