Informations Rapides · 6 August 2021 · n° 206

In Q2 2021, payroll employment increased by 1.2% and returned to its end of 2019 level (flash estimate) Flash estimate of payroll employment - second quarter 2021

Between the end of March and the end of June 2021, private payroll employment increased by 1.2%, or 239,500 net job creations. It increased for the second consecutive quarter, after +0.5% (or +91,400 jobs) in the previous quarter. Overall, by mid-2021, private payroll employment returned to its pre-crisis level at the end of 2019. Nevertheless, the situation differs from one sector to another: some sectors are above their pre-crisis level (construction and non-market services) while others remain below (industry and market services).

In Q2 2021, temporary employment increased again, by 2.4% after +0.7% in the first quarter of 2021 (+17,900 after +4,900 jobs). These increases are much more moderate than those of the previous quarters (+22.1%, +23.0% and +5.2% in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020, i.e. a total of +273,500 jobs). However, this dynamism over five consecutive quarters do not fully compensate for the historic drop in the first quarter of 2020 (−40.1% or −315,300 jobs). Temporary employment thus remains below its pre-crisis level: in June 2021, it is 2.4% below its end of 2019 level (that is −19,100 jobs).

Excluding temporary work, private payroll employment increased by 1.2% (+221,600 jobs). As a reminder, in this publication temporary workers are accounted for in the temporary employment sector which pays them (within market services), whichever sector they carry out their assignment (industry, construction, market or non market services).

Industrial employment (excluding temporary workers) increased in the second quarter of 2021 after remaining almost stable in the previous quarter: +0.3% in Q2 2021 (or +9,200 jobs after +1,400). It had fallen by 1.9% over the whole year of 2020 (−57,700 jobs). Industrial employment thus remains significantly below its pre-crisis level: −1.5% (or −47,100 jobs) compared to the level measured at the end of 2019.

In non temporary market services, private payroll employment increased again significantly: +1.7% after +0.4% in the previous quarter (that is +195,900 after +46,800 jobs). This sector has been strongly affected by the health restrictions, with a 2.4% drop in payroll employment over the whole year of 2020 (or −279,300 jobs). By mid-2021, employment in the sector remains below its end of 2019 pre-crisis level, by 0.3% (−36,500 jobs).

Private payroll employment (excluding temporary workers) in construction increased again in the second quarter of 2021, but more moderately than in the first (+0.3% after +1.4%, that is +4,500 after +19,800 jobs). It had returned to its pre-crisis level as soon as June 2020 and continues to exceed it by a wide margin: by mid-2021 it is 3.9% higher than its end of 2019 level (+55,300 jobs).

Finally, in non market services, private payroll employment increased again: +0.4% in the second quarter of 2021 (that is +10,900 jobs) after +0.9% in the first quarter of 2021 (that is +21,900). It exceed by 1.9% its end of 2019 level (+47,200).