France private payroll employment falls in Q3

Private payroll employment in France fell by 0.3%, or 60,600 jobs, to a nearly three-year low of 20.97 million in Q3 2025, reversing a 0.2% increase in the previous quarter.

Job losses were mainly concentrated in temporary employment (-0.2%), which accounted for roughly two-thirds of the overall decline.

Excluding temporary work, employment was virtually stable in industry (-0.1%) but continued to fall in construction (-0.3%).

Market services (excluding temporary work) declined 0.3%, while non-market services fell by 0.3%.

On a yearly basis, private payroll employment decreased by 0.5%, or 112,100 jobs, marking the fourth consecutive annual decline.

Despite this, employment remained well above pre-pandemic levels, with a gain of 5.2%, or 1.0 million jobs, since the end of 2019. Temporary employment stayed below its Q3 2024 level by 2.6% and remained 8.6% below its pre-pandemic level.