The job market comes out of the water, little by little ... Although the situation remains complicated, such is the teaching of several indicators released this Wednesday by the statistical service of the Ministry of Labor, the Dares. Partial unemployment, job protection plans, weekly registration requests at Pôle Emploi… Everything goes there. Le Figaro takes stock.
Partial unemployment
Since the beginning of the crisis, 14 million employees have been the subject of a request for prior authorization of partial activity, reveals this Wednesday the Dares. From March 1 to July 6, state services received 1,444,000 authorization requests for a total of 6.3 billion non-working hours. This represents approximately 12 weeks to 35 hours for each employee. Regarding the distribution according to the size of the structure, 46% of the employees who were the subject of a request worked in a company with less than 50 employees. Large structures, those with more than 250 employees, represented 34% of workers in partial activity. Concerning the sectors of activity, the requests were mainly concentrated in: specialized, scientific and technical activities, administrative and support services (20%), trade (16%) and construction (11%). Finally, at the regional level, the Île de France accounted for 25% of requests, and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, 12%.
Claims for compensation
As of July 6, some 848,000 businesses have applied for partial unemployment compensation for the month of March. This concerned 6.5 million employees. “ Based on the forecast partial activity periods requested by companies on July 6, 11.1 million employees were likely to be placed in partial activity in March (…) only 58% of these employees were actually placed in partial activity ”, underlines the Dares. However, all claims for March have not yet been filed. Of these 6.5 million employees, 5.1 million were part of a company with less than 50 employees. " The ratio between the number of employees covered by a claim for compensation and by a prior request is thus significantly higher in the smallest companies ", explains Dares.
Read also: The perverse effects of the "very generous" French partial unemployment
Regarding compensation for the month of April, 942,000 companies have made a request. This represents 7.6 million employees for a total of 734 million compensated unemployed hours. " Based on the claims filed on July 6, only 62% of these employees have actually been placed in partial activity ," says Dares. Once again, the distribution of requests is largely driven by small businesses.
Restructuring procedures
This is one of the major indicators of the recovery and which gives an idea of the situation on the job market for the coming months. And it does not look promising ... During the first week of July, the number of safeguard plans (PSE) or social plans - compulsory in companies with 50 employees minimum, from 10 layoffs - is much higher than its level before the crisis. 24 job safeguard plans (PES) were initiated last week, against only 11 the week before confinement. However, from one year to the next, and referring to the same week, this number is identical. On the other hand, the real reason for concern comes from the planned job cuts which continue to increase. " In cumulative since March 1, 27,000 job cuts have been planned under PSE, more than twice as much as over the same period in 2019, " says Dares.
Read also: The waltz of social plans has started
Weekly registration requests at Pôle Emploi
From June 21 to 27, Pôle emploi recorded 72,900 new requests to register applicants. A decrease of 17.6% compared to the same week last year. If this figure may seem encouraging, it hides a completely different reality. " This downturn is notably linked to the low number of exits observed since the start of confinement and which is reflected as fewer re-registrations in the following weeks ", estimates the Dares. In normal times, if the number of registrations is higher, the exits are also… This allows to regulate the number of job seekers.
Training registrations for job seekers
On the other hand, and this is encouraging, the resumption of training registrations has been confirmed for several weeks. During the weeks of June 22 and 29, 2020, nearly 20,000 weekly registrations were recorded, more than 60% more than the equivalent weeks of last year. It is therefore a real start for training. " Entries in the autonomous CPF account for more than a third of registrations in training, " says Dares.
Job vacancies
Another reason for satisfaction on the job market: the number of job offers posted online from June 29 to July 5 is 119% of the pre-containment level. A figure which continues in the continuity of the previous weeks because for a month, the number has been on average at 111% of the pre-containment level. However, this increase is largely driven by the offer of fixed-term contracts (CDD) or temporary assignments.
Supported contracts
On the other hand, the levels of entries into subsidized contracts remain as worrying as ever ... From March 16 to July 5, the cumulative number of entries in the skills employment path (PEC) amounted to 12,900, which represents a drop of 55% compared to this same period in 2019. The Ministry of Labor recorded during this last week, from June 29 to July 5, some 1,300 admissions. However, the peak recorded in June (2200 admissions) shows a slight rebound. In addition, " the first week of July could reach around 2,500 admissions, which would clearly confirm the restart, " hopes Dares.
Frank jobs
Aid requests transmitted for franc jobs are still not taking off again. Since mid-April, the weekly number of aid requests sent to Pôle Emploi has fluctuated between 200 and 300 per week, compared to 800 in mid-March ...
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