France private employment: food, beverages and tobacco
France private employment: food, beverages and tobacco stood at 600,834 persons in Q2 2026, according to URSSAF – Union de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d'allocations familiales. It is one of the indicators in the Private employment and short-time work (URSSAF) table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q3 1998 to Q2 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Private employment and short-time work (URSSAF) table
| Indicator | Q2-2026 | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private employment by sector | |||||||||||
| Food, beverages and tobacco | 600,834 | 600,087 | 598,819 | 597,250 | 597,848 | 596,183 | 594,882 | 592,304 | 589,863 | 588,468 | |
| Textiles, clothing, leather and footwear | 105,865 | 106,244 | 106,797 | 107,247 | 107,854 | 108,465 | 109,083 | 109,624 | 109,627 | 109,978 |
Understanding france private employment: food, beverages and tobacco
This indicator tracks salaried personnel working in enterprises that process raw agricultural and animal inputs into consumable nourishment and tobacco items. Unlike heavy industrial rows, this metric focuses on processing, preservation, packaging, and manufacturing operations intended for retail consumption. The scope encompasses factory workers, quality control staff, and administrative personnel within the designated food and stimulant industries. Agricultural farm laborers who grow the raw crops remain outside this classification, as do workers in retail distribution.
Seasonality plays a major role in this sector due to harvest cycles and holiday production surges, making year-on-year comparisons preferable to quarter-on-quarter views. Early figures often see revisions as smaller processing enterprises submit delayed administrative filings. Analysts must distinguish these factory-gate processing jobs from agricultural cultivation employment and restaurant-level food preparation.
Frequently asked questions
- Are farm laborers included in this food sector count?
- No, agricultural workers who grow raw crops are excluded; only processing plant workers are counted.
- Why do figures fluctuate during certain quarters?
- Harvest cycles and holiday demand create predictable seasonal variations in processing activity.
- How does this differ from restaurant employment?
- This series covers industrial manufacturing and processing of food, not retail food service.