Employees on short-term contracts: more frequently alternating between employment and unemployment, whether or not seeking work

On average, in 2017 in France, 1.2 million employees held a short-term contract, whether they have a contract with a temporary employment agency or a fixed-term contract of less than three months. These employees represent 4.5% of people holding a job at a given point in time. This proportion is far below the number of short contracts across all hires carried out over a year.

After increasing between the beginning of the 1980s and the middle of the 2000s, the proportion of people on short contracts has stabilised, despite strong growth in short contract hires. These divergent trends demonstrate a strong rise in the job turnover over the period.

Short contracts are more frequent among young people, even if they have spread to the elderly. More less skilled workers are also on short contracts, particularly temporary positions in industry.

Compared to all employees having a fixed-term contracts or a contract with a temporary employment agency, people on short contract are more often under-employed and are more likely to express the desire to have another job.

A quarter of people on short contract are unemployed or inactive three months later. Those who are still in work three months later are most frequently working for the same employer.

Approximately 17% of employees on short contract at the end of 2016 live in a household living in poverty, against 8% for all people holding a job and 38% for the unemployed.