According to the report from INSEE, in the third quarter, non-farm payrolls grew again, but at a slower pace - by 0.4% compared to +1.2% in the second quarter (revised from +1.1%). Economists had expected employment to grow by 0.3%.
The employment growth was mainly caused by an increase in the number of jobs in the private sector (+0.5% compared to +1.5% in the second quarter. An increase in employment was also recorded in the public sector - by 0.2% against +0.4% in the previous quarter.
The data also showed that industrial employment (excluding temporary work) increased by 0.1% after a similar increase in the second quarter. As for the services sector (excluding temporary work), employment increased by 0.8% compared with an increase of 2.2% in the previous quarter. In the construction sector (excluding temporary work), the number of jobs decreased by 0.2% - for the first time since the end of 2016 - after an increase of 0.3% in the second quarter.