Insee Première · March 2021 · n° 1842

In 2019, employment increased in all three branches of the French civil service

At the end of 2019, 5.66 million persons, or one in five employed persons, worked in the French civil service, that is 18,300 more than a year earlier (+0.3%). Among them, 67.4% were civil servants. In 2019 the decrease in subsidised contracts continued in all three branches of the French civil service (−34.4%). As in recent years, some workers previously having subsidised contracts stayed in the French civil service with another status in 2019 (just over one-third).

Converted to full-time equivalents, annual employment including subsidised contracts rose by 0.3%, after having fallen by 0.4% in 2018.

In 2019, the number of civil servants continued to decline (−0.3%) while the number of contract workers rose by 5.2%.

The French civil service employment growth was due both to an increase of entries and to a decrease of exits.