The data published by INSEE showed that in the 4th quarter private payroll employment did not change after it grew by 0.6% or by 119.1 thousand in the 3rd quarter. Economists had expected a 0.3% increase in employment. However, INSEE stated that private payroll employment exceeded its end of Q4 2021 level by +1.5% and its pre-sanitary crisis level (end of Q4 2019) by +4.5%.
Temporary employment growth slowed to 0.8% in the 4th quarter from 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. As a result, temporary employment was above the level of Q4 2019 (+4.5%), but below the level of the end of 2021 (-1.6%).
The report also showed that industrial private payroll employment (excluding temporary work) increased by 0.1%, which was weaker than the 0.5% increase in the 3rd quarter. In market services, private payroll employment (excluding temporary work) decreased by 0.1% after an increase of 0.7% in the previous quarter. In construction, private payroll employment (excluding temporary work) has not changed relative to the 3rd quarter. In non-temporary market services, private payroll employment also remained unchanged after growing by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter. Meanwhile, private payroll employment in agriculture grew by 1.7%, offsetting a 1% drop in the 3rd quarter.