Informations Rapides · 31 May 2024 · n° 132

In Q1 2024, payroll employment rose by 0.3% Payroll employment - first quarter 2024

In Q1 2024, payroll employment rose by 0.3% (that is +75,100 net job creations) after a stability in the previous quarter (+8,900 jobs). It exceeded its Q1 2023 level by 0.7% (that is +185,700 jobs) and its pre-sanitary crisis level (end of 2019) by 5.2%, that is more than 1.4 million additional jobs.

Private payroll employment increased by 0.3% in Q1 2024 (that is +61,100 jobs) after being virtually stable the previous quarter (-15,500 jobs). It exceeded its pre-sanitary crisis level by 6.2% (that is nearly 1.2 million jobs). Public payroll employment rose also but slowed down compared to Q4 2023: +0.2% (that is +14,000 jobs) after +0.4% (that is +24,400 jobs). It topped its previous year level by 1.1% (that is +62,500 jobs) and its Q4 2019 level by 2.1% (that is +123,100 jobs).

In Q1 2024, temporary employment was virtually stable (-0.1% or -700 jobs) after four quarters of decline. Temporary employment was then below its Q1 2023 level by 4.7% (that is -37,500 jobs) and was also below its pre-sanitary crisis level by 2.6% (that is -20,200 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 Q1 2024, payroll employment in agriculture decreased slightly (-0.3% that is -900 jobs). It thus came back to its Q3 2023 and Q1 2023 level.

Industrial payroll employment (excluding temporary work) kept rising in Q1 2024: +0.2% after +0.3% (that is +7,300 after +9,900 jobs in Q4 2023). It exceeded by 1.1% its Q1 2023 level and its pre-sanitary level by 3.0%.

In the construction sector, payroll employment (excluding temporary work) decreased in Q1 2024 by 0.6% yet after a decrease of 0.2% in Q4 2023 (that is -8,900 jobs after -3,600 jobs). It was below it Q1 2023 level by 1.3% but remained well above its pre-sanitary crisis level (+6.4%).

Excluding temporary work, payroll employment in market services rebounded in Q1 2024: +0.4% (that is +52,400 jobs), after a near stability in Q4 2023 (-0.1% that is -15,000 jobs). It topped its Q1 2023 level by 0.9% (that is +108,000 jobs) and its pre-sanitary level by 7.7% (that is +908,900 jobs). In market services, excluding temporary work, payroll employment rose sharply in professional, scientific and technical activities (+22,200 jobs) and in accommodation and food service activities (+20,400 jobs).

Payroll employment in non-market services increased again by 0.3% in Q1 2024 (that is +25,900 after +29,300 jobs), private and public payroll employment both contributing to the growth. It topped its Q1 2023 level by 1.2% and its pre-sanitary level by 3.2%.

In Q1 2024, private payroll employment rose especially among people aged 15 to 29 years old (+1.4% that is +74,200 jobs), whereas it was virtually stable for people aged 30 years old or more. Over a year, however, private payroll employment increased more strongly for people aged 55 years old and more (+3.0%) than for young people (+1.2%) and it diminished for people aged between 30 to 54 years old (-0.4%).

By contract types, fixed-term jobs (excluding work-study) sharply rose in Q1 2024 (+2.4%, that is +43,700 jobs), after four quarters of decline. Over a year, the rise in private payroll employment was explained by a rise in permanent contracts (+0.7%, that is +117,300 jobs) and work-study (+3.9%, that is +39,200 jobs), whereas fixed-term contracts were stable and temporary work decreased. Since the end of 2019, among the 1.2 million jobs created in private payroll employment, more than 0.9 million jobs have been created in permanent contracts and 0.4 million in work-study.

Finally, by sex, in Q1 2024, private payroll employment increased by 0.3% for women as for men. Over a year, rises were close: +0.7% for women and +0.5% for men.

Compared to the employment detailed estimate published on 29 February 2024, the quarterly increase in payroll employment (private and public) in Q4 2023 has been revised downwards by 3,000 jobs and its relative evolution unchanged. Weak revisions on every sectors are essentially due to changes in the corrections of seasonal variations coefficients.

Compared to the flash estimate published on 7 May 2024, the payroll employment in the private sector alone in Q1 2024 has been revised upwards by 10,600 jobs, with its relative evolution revised upwards by 0.1 points. This revision concentrates notably in non market services and is due to the integration of more later declarants than estimated in the first place.