According to the report from INSEE, between the end of June and the end of September 2021, private payroll employment increased again: +0.5%, or +96,100 net job creations. Economists had expected a 0.3% increase. This is the third successive quarterly increase after +0.8% and +1.4% in the first and second quarters of 2021 (that is +153,800 and +265,100 jobs). In total, at the end of September 2021, private payroll employment exceeds its pre-crisis level (that of the end of 2019) by 0.9% (that is +185,600 jobs).
In Q3 2021, temporary employment increased again: +1.4% after +2.4% in the second quarter and +0.7% in the first (that is +11,200 after +17,900 and +5,200 jobs). These increases are much more moderate than those of the previous quarters (+22.1%, +22.6% and +5.5% in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020, i.e. a total of +273,700 jobs). In total, the increase over six consecutive quarters do not fully compensate for the historic drop in the first quarter of 2020 (−40.1% that is −315,900 jobs). Temporary employment thus remains slightly below its pre-crisis level: at the end of September 2021, it is 1.0% below its end of 2019 level (that is −7,800 jobs).
Excluding temporary work, private payroll employment increased by 0.4% in the third quarter of 2021 (+85,000 jobs).