The number of temporary workers in France fell by 6.7% in February 2024 compared to the same period a year ago, according to the latest Prism’emploi barometer.

February’s 6.7% annual fall was an improvement over January’s 9.8% year-on-year fall.

“After the trends of December 2023 and January 2024, disrupted by the positioning of holidays and by bad weather, February 2024 finds a trend comparable to that of the months of October and November 2023,” Prism’emploi stated.

By sector, temporary employment saw decreases in construction (-3.1%), transport (-7.1%), services (-7.1%), industry (-7.3%) and commerce (-9.6%).

Prism’emploi said the return to normal weather conditions is more favourable to activity in the construction sector. At the same time, it added that the decline in the commerce sector remains ‘worrying’ due to the persistent sluggishness of household consumption. Meanwhile, the identical deterioration of the transport-logistics and services sectors at -7.1%, is in line with that of the average trend. The industry sector remains slightly below the average development, it noted.

By qualification, temporary employment fell among managers and intermediate professions (-1.5%), skilled workers (-2.6%), employees (-10.9%) and unskilled workers (-11.2%).

In geographical detail, with the exception of PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (+1.5%), all regions recorded negative developments over one year. The biggest annual fall was seen in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, with a 10.4% drop.