Les salariés du secteur public. Les fonctionnaires et les autres

Public Sector Employees, Public Servants… and Others, Annie Brenot-Ouldali
While it may be common knowledge that the state is the principal employer in France, estimates of the actual number who are either public servants or otherwise paid out of the public purse (whether rightly or not) are the object of frequent controversy.
Annie Brenot-Ouldali provides us here with a very useful description of the public service world, along with estimates of the numbers who find employment in it.
She distinguishes :
– the public service itself, comprising those employed by the state, including the territories and the health care system. It represents 5.3 million employees (end of 1996);
– the social security system with a total of 332.000 employees;
– enterprises working for the public service but under different status; bringing the total up to about six and a half million employees.