About 2.4 million private sector workers were on short-time work in July, more than two million less than in June, according to an estimate from Dares, the statistics service of the Ministry of Labor. They were 4.5 million in June, 7.9 million in May, 8.8 million in April and 7.2 million in March on short-time working, due to the Covid epidemic. In July, 120,000 people were partially employed due to vulnerability (or childcare), against 720,000 a month earlier.
Read also: The hunt to flush out employers who have abused partial unemployment has begun
The drop in the number of short-time workers was particularly strong in July in construction, commerce, transport-storage, accommodation and catering, specialized, scientific and technical activities, adds Dares. At the end of July, the third month of deconfinement, six in ten employees were working on site (stable compared to the end of June, after half at the end of May, a third at the end of April and a quarter at the end of March) and one in ten employees was teleworking.
Read also: Unemployment fell again in July but remains at a high level
The recovery in activity continued: 9% of employees are in a company whose activity has stopped or has more than halved, against 13% in June, 27% in May and 45% in April.
