Informations Rapides · 29 February 2024 · n° 47

In Q4 2023, payroll employment was stable Payroll employment - fourth quarter 2023

In Q4 2023, payroll employment was stable (0.0%, that is +11,900 net job creations) after a rise of 0.2% in the previous quarter (that is +60,800 jobs). It exceeded its Q4 2022 level by 0.6% (that is +150,000 jobs) and its pre-sanitary crisis level (end of 2019) by 5.0%, that is more than 1.3 million additional jobs within which one out of three is an apprenticeship contract.

Private payroll employment was nearly stable: -0.1% (that is +12,600 jobs) after +0.2% (that is +51,500 jobs) in Q3 2023. It exceeded its Q4 2022 level by 0.4% (that is +91,200 jobs) and its pre-sanitary crisis level by 5.9% (that is nearly 1.2 million jobs).

Public payroll employment rose again: +0.4% (that is +24,500 jobs) after +0.2% (that is +9,300 jobs) in the previous quarter. It topped his previous year level by 1.0% (that is +58,700 jobs) and its Q4 2019 level by 1.8% (that is +104,400 jobs).

In Q4 2023, temporary employment decreased again: -1.7% (or -13,000 jobs) after three quarters of decline since the beginning of the year. Temporary employment was then sharply below its Q4 2022 level (-6.6%). It was also below its pre-sanitary crisis level (-2.5% that is -19,800 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 (agriculture, industry, construction, market or non market services).

In Q4 2023, payroll employment in agriculture increased (+0.6% that is +1,900 jobs) but was a little below its Q4 2022 level (-0.4% that is -1,100 jobs).

Industrial payroll employment (excluding temporary work) kept rising in Q4 2023: +0.3% after +0.4% (that is +9,100 after +12,500 jobs). It exceeded by 1.1% (that is +35,500 jobs) its Q4 2022 level and its pre-sanitary level by 2.8%.

In the construction sector, payroll employment (excluding temporary work) decreased in Q4 2023: -0.2%, after -0.1% (that is -3,500 jobs after -1,400 jobs) which led to a cumulative decline of 0.7% over a year (that is -11,500 jobs). Yet, it remained well above its pre-sanitary crisis level (+7.2%).

Excluding temporary work, private payroll was at a standstill in market services in Q4 2023: it was virtually stable (-0.1%, that is -16,400 jobs), after having risen by 0.4% in Q3 2023 (+46,600 jobs). It topped its Q4 2022 level by 0.8% (that is +104,500 jobs) and its pre-sanitary level by 7.3%. Within this sector, payroll employment declined over the quarter notably in wholesale and retail trade (-10,300 jobs), accommodation and food service activities (-9,200 jobs) and information and communication (-5,400 jobs).

Payroll employment in non-market services increased by 0.4% (+33,600 jobs) in Q4 2023 after +0.3% in the previous quarter (+21,500 jobs). Within this sector, payroll employment rose in every sub-sector, specially in human health (+13,000 jobs). Payroll employment in non-market services topped its Q4 2022 level by 0.9% (that is +76,300 jobs) and its pre-sanitary level by 2.8%.

Compared to the employment detailed estimate published on 29 November 2023, the quarterly change in payroll employment (private and public) in Q3 2023 has been revised upwards by 24,100 jobs (that is +0.1 points). This revision is particularly marked in market services excluding temporary work (+12,900 jobs) and is mainly due to the integration of more late declarations than expected. Moreover, the rise in Q4 2022 has been slightly revised upwards (+0.1 points) and the one in Q1 2023 has been slightly revised downwards (-0.1 points) following a calendar effect correction at the end of 2022 (measure in the last working day of the quarter instead of in the last day of the quarter).

Compared to the flash estimate published on 7 February 2024, the change in payroll employment in the private sector alone in Q4 2023 has been barely revised downwards (-4,300 jobs), with a relative evolution tipping to -0.1% (after rounding).