After large staffing firms such as Groupe Crit have recently reported worsening trading conditions in the first half of the year, an end to the downturn seen in the French staffing market is still not in sight.

The latest statistics by the national jobs agency (Pôle emploi) show that the number of temporary workers dropped by -3.5% on the previous month to 587,100. A year ago, there were considerably more temporary workers active in the labour market as their numbers has dropped by -10.4% over 12 months.

There are simply not as many jobs available for temporary workers – July’s vacancies dropped by -4.6% when compared to June, and by -10.8% year-over-year. Other sectors that were hit by falling demand include the food, mining/energy and electrical industries.

The statistics also showed that women were more affected by the decline in temporary employment. Their participation in the temporary staffing industry declined by -11.7% compared to -9.8% for men.

Both the blue collar and white collar workforce were impacted by the fall in temporary positions. The number of managers, including those in intermediate professions, dropped -6.7%. Skilled blue collar workers saw their numbers decline by -8.2%, compared to -9.4% of white collar employees and -13.8% of unskilled blue collar workers. 

In July, temporary employment increased in only two regions when compared to June, namely in Franche-Comté (+3.4%) and Brittany (+0.1%). Ile-de-France and Normandy showed the largest decreases (-5.5% and -6.0% respectively). Year-over-year, no region in France saw growth levels increase in temporary labour.