Private payroll employment in France declined by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2026, a loss of 19,300 jobs, bringing the total to 21 million. This matched market expectations and mirrored the drop recorded in the previous quarter. On an annual basis, private employment was down 0.4% (–79,700 jobs), but remained 5% (about +1 million jobs) higher than its pre-pandemic level.
Temporary employment continued to weaken, falling 1.4% (–9,700 jobs), leaving it below both its level a year earlier (–1.9%) and its pre-pandemic level (–10.4%). Excluding temporary work, employment dynamics were mixed across sectors. Agricultural employment declined by 0.8% (–2,500 jobs), industrial employment slipped by 0.1% (–3,200 jobs), and construction employment contracted by 0.4% (–6,100 jobs). By contrast, employment in both market services and non-market services, excluding temporary work, remained stable.
Despite the recent slowdown, private payroll employment in France is still significantly above its pre-pandemic level, standing 5% (around +1 million jobs) higher than at the end of 2019.
