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France – Sharp monthly drop in temporary employment

March 29, 2012

The number of temporary workers in France declined by -6.8% in February 2012 compared to a year ago, according to the employment barometer of the French association of employment agencies, Prisme.

Looking at the latest figures by type of role, the only category that experienced an increase in February was professionals and managers (+3%), on a year-on-year basis. Despite this, white collar workers overall suffered the most from the deterioration, experiencing a decline in employment of -9.7%. This compares to a -9.6% decrease for unskilled blue-collar workers and a -6.1% decline for skilled blue-collar workers.

Notably, all sectors saw a year-on-year drop of temporary workers in February 2012, but the number of temporary staff in the construction sector saw the sharpest decline of -14.4%. However, the transport and sales sectors were less affected recording a drop of -6.4% and -6.6% respectively. The industrial and services sectors fared slightly better experiencing a decrease of -5.2% and -5.4%.

Apart from the Midi-Pyrénées region, which saw its number of temporary workers grow by +3.2%, all regions recorded an annual decline in the month. Picardie (-13.2%) was the region that was most affected, followed by Alsace (-12.6%), Champagne-Ardenne (-11.4%) and Ile-de-France (-10%).

The employment barometer is based on statistics provided by temporary employment agencies, which represent more than 80% of temporary employment in the country.