In 2017, French public sector employment is almost stable despite a decline in subsidised contracts

At the end of 2017, 5.66 million employees work in the French public sector. This number is almost stable (–0.1%), after a +0.4% change in 2016. Employment is stable both in the State Public sector and in the Hospital public sector, but decreases for the second year in a row in the Local public sector (–0,4%).

The number of civil servants is decreasing. Civil servants represent 67.8% of the whole public sector employment. The number of subsidised contracts fell in each of the three branches of the public sector. This is almost balanced by the increase in the number of contract workers within the civil service.

Even though employment is almost stable, volume of work rose by 0.3% in 2017. This is due to a structure effect: the number of working hours for subsidised contracts was often lower than for other contracts.

The deceleration in public sector employment is mainly the result of a growth of the numbers of exit, exits becoming higher than enterings. Temporary interruptions and short term contracts are more common and affect mainly contract workers.