10 December 2019

2019- n° 318

In Q3 2019, payroll employment increased again by +0.2 % Payroll employment - third quarter 2019

In Q3 2019, net payroll job creation reached 42,300, that is +0.2% as in the previous quarter. Payroll employment increased by 33,700 in the private sector, an increase comparable to the previous quarter (+43,500 jobs); it increased slightly again in the public sector (+8,600 jobs after +10,600). Year on year, it rose by 258,600 (+1.0%): +231,000 jobs in the private sector and +27,700 jobs in the public service.

In Q3 2019, payroll employment remains almost stable in industry: +1,500 jobs after +1,400 the previous quarter. Over a year it increased by 17,400 jobs (that is +0.6%).

Payroll employment in construction continues to grow strongly: +9,000 jobs after +7,600 jobs (that is +0.6% after +0.5%). Year on year, employment in construction increased by 42,200 jobs (that is +3.1%).

In Q3 2019, payroll employment increased by 23,500 in market services, that is +0.2%, after +0.3% in the previous quarter. Year on year, the market services sector as a whole provided for the large majority of net job creation (+167,500 jobs).

Temporary employment decreased marginally again: –2,900 jobs in Q3 2019, i.e. –0.4% as in Q2 2019. Over a year, it declined by 8,000 jobs, that is −1.0%. Employment in market services excluding temporary work slowed down slightly: +26,400 in Q3 2019 after +36,500 jobs (i.e. +0.2% after +0,3%). Over a year, it expanded by 175,500 jobs (+1.5%).

Payroll employment in mainly non-market services increased moderatly as in the previous quarter: +6,500 jobs, after +11,200. The increase came essentially from the public service (+7,600 jobs after +10,000 jobs) while the private sector remained almost stable (–1,100 jobs after +1,200 jobs). Over a year, employment in mainly non-market services increased by 29,000 (+0.4 %).

Compared to the employment estimate published on 10 september 2019, net job creation (private and public) of Q2 2019 is pratictally unchanged (revised by –2,100).

Compared to the flash estimate focused on the private sector published on 8 november 2019, net job creation in Q3 2019 has been revised downwards by 20,600, that is –0.1 points, especially due to the industry and market services. Moreover, the introduction of a new data source has led to a revision of past series for individual employers, in the market and non-market services. The effect on quaterly evolutions is limited: it is non-existent in trend, with occasional revisions of few thousand in some quarters.