After Adecco reported this week that much of its revenue decline in the summer months had been driven by a slowdown in the French staffing market, official figures show that temporary employment in the country has seen a further decline.

The latest data from the Ministry of Labour shows that the number of temporary workers continued to fall in the second quarter of the year. In the three months to June, there were 548,000 temporary workers active in the French labour market, seeing a drop of -3.3% from the previous quarter.

This is a reduction of 18,900 temporary jobs over one quarter, after the first quarter showed some signs of stabilisation.

All industries monitored by the Ministry noted a decline in activity.

In the industrial sector, the number of temporary workers fell the most, with this sector recording 13,600 fewer jobs or a decrease of -5.4%.

In the services sector, also known as the tertiary sector in France, the number of temporary jobs dropped for the fourth consecutive quarter by 2,400 or -1.3%.

After the construction industry appeared to show some improvements in the first quarter, this trend did not continue with the number of jobs falling by 2,900 or by -2.3% in the three months to June.

So far there has been little good news. The decline seen in the second quarter carried on into the third quarter as the number of temporary workers continued to drop in July, affecting both blue collar and white collar workers.