France’s business climate indicator edged up 0.5 pts to 95.0 in January, indicating that conditions have remained largely unchanged at this slightly pessimistic level. The employment climate indicator improved 1.3 pts to 97.9 suggesting the health of the labor market was slightly worse than the long-term average condition.

The manufacturing sector opened the new year with a -1.7 pt decline in confidence to 95.3 (vs 96.0 expected) as the assessment of both domestic and foreign order books deteriorated. General production expectations continued to be pessimistic, but to a lesser extent than in December.

France’s service sector sentiment was unchanged at 96.5 which is the lowest reading since July 2024. Both expected activity and demand were negative as the general outlook remained pessimistic. Services firms also reported slight declines in employment, and the percentage of business owners that reported problems hiring was the lowest since April 2021.

France’s business climate indicator fell -0.2 pts to 96.4 in April, remaining below the long-term average.

• The manufacturing sector index improved 3.4 pts to 99.5 as the decline in order books eased.
• The service sector index increased 0.9 pts to 98.0 with slightly better activity and demand expectations.
• The construction and retail trade sectors both declines with the latter seeing a drop of -5.2 pts to 94.8 (lowest since July 2024).
• The employment indicator improved 0.6 pts to 96.5, a 3-month high.