The number of employees increased by more than 86,000 from January to March, despite the decline (-0.1%) in GDP, reaching 25.3 million according to the final figures from INSEE for the first quarter published this Thursday. This improvement (an increase of 0.3%) is mainly due to the dynamism of the construction sector.
The increase was driven by the private sector: nearly 89,000 additional jobs, “a strong rebound,” estimates INSEE (+0.5%), while the public sector recorded a slight decline (-2,700).
All of this does not erase the scars of more than a year of crisis, even though overall we are approaching the levels of late 2019. With a caveat: private sector employment is still 243,400 below its level at that time, except for construction, which gained 51,000 positions, according to INSEE. Conversely, public sector employment increased by 33,600. The non-commercial tertiary sector also continues its momentum, driven by health.
