Civil service: in 2019, one in five agents was on contract

The share of contract workers in the public service continued to increase in 2019 to reach 20% of the total number of public officials, according to a report published this week as an annex to the 2022 budget bill.

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In 2019, the number of civil servants fell by 0.3% while contract workers saw their ranks swell by 5.1%, according to the annual report on the state of the civil service and remuneration. They are more numerous in the territorial (21.1%) and hospital (20.9%) public services than in the State civil service (18.8%). Among the contract workers, 57% are on fixed-term contracts (CDD), a stable percentage compared to 2018. Fixed-term contracts are particularly frequent in the region, where less than three in ten contractual agents are on permanent contracts.

The use of contract workers, whose status is less protective than that of civil servant, was encouraged by the law on the transformation of the civil service, adopted in 2019. Although growing, their weight within the administration is much less than that of civil servants. in Germany, Italy or the United Kingdom, where a large majority of public officials are contractual, underlined the Court of Auditors in a report published in September 2020.

Majority officials

Civil servants remain in the large majority (68% of the workforce) among the 5.61 million public officials listed in the report, which is due to be presented to public employers and unions on Tuesday.

The workforce increased in the three sides of the civil service, even if the increase was more moderate (+ 0.4%, or 5,300 agents) within the hospital, during the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic .

The proportion of women increased by 0.3 point in 2019 and female agents represent 62.7% of the overall workforce.

In category A +, which brings together the most qualified and best paid agents, they nevertheless remain in the minority.