The public sector labor force grew less rapidly than that of the private sector between 2019 and 2021 in France, a finding that goes against the global trend, the OECD indicates in a report published this Friday. Among the 35 countries studied by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), “only France and Poland have registered an increase in total employment greater than that of the public administration sector.”
“In France, employment in the public administration increased by 0.5% per year” between 2019 and 2021, “compared to 0.9% of total employment”, details the OECD in its annual Panorama of public administration. Conversely, in the majority of other countries, the name of public employment with a dynamic croissance, “of 1.5% even in moyenne”, means that the active population reculait in the same temps of 0.1 % average.
One in five works in the public sector
Despite the slower increase in the number of civil servants, France still has one of the highest percentages of civil servants in the labor force. Thus, more than one in five French workers (21.13%) worked in the public sector in 2021, compared to 18.63% on average in OECD countries.
France is certainly a good distance behind Norway (30.92%) or Sweden (29.27%), but it is also clearly ahead of large European countries such as the United Kingdom (16.9%), Spain (16.55%) , Italy (13.53%) or Germany. (11.13%).
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee), France had more than 5.7 million civil servants at the end of 2021, within a total active population of close to 30 million. In OECD member states, women represent about 60% of employees in the public sector and almost two-thirds in France.
According to the Panorama of public administrations, only 31.1% of these management positions were held by women in France in 2021, compared to 40.8% on average in the OECD and the European Union. A text currently being examined by the French Parliament should impose from 2027 a minimum rate of 40% of people of each sex present in public management positions.
Source: BFM TV
