The first spring confinement sounded the death knell for hiring.
Never since 1993, when Dares (an organization attached to the Ministry of Labor) was created, has recruitment collapsed to such an extent.
According to figures for the 2nd quarter of 2020, 3,070,500 employment contracts were signed in the private sector (excluding agriculture, temporary work and private employers), ie "a decline of an unobserved magnitude over the entire series of -45 , 7% ”compared to the 1st quarter.
This is "the effect of the Covid-19 health crisis", state the authors of this study, clearly.
More specifically, the number of hires on permanent contracts (CDI) fell by 41.3% against a drop of 5.6% in the 1st quarter of 2020. Hires on fixed-term contracts are even more affected with a close decline by 50%.
The "anti-dismissal shield" is in full swing.
Another data which confirms this slump in the labor market: the number of contract ends has collapsed.
Traditionally, each quarter since the creation of these statistics, the end of the probationary period, resignations, negotiated breaks, layoffs, but also retirements “boost” turnover in companies, and therefore hiring, we explain to the Dares.
Here again patatras: “3,262,400 contracts ended in the 2nd quarter of 2020, indicates the Dares, that is to say 44.0% less than the previous quarter (after -4.6% in the 1st quarter of 2020) also because of the confinement in mid-March ”.
Unheard of in statistics.
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In the second quarter everything seems to have frozen.
Partial unemployment has notably played a role, serving as a shock absorber to avoid mass departures and layoffs.
An "anti-dismissal shield" that the government has also chosen to extend in July with the long-term partial activity device (APLD) to limit damage as much as possible.
According to the Minister of Labor, Élisabeth Borne, “4,300 agreements covering more than 300,000 employees” have to date already been signed, 80% of which in SMEs with less than 50 employees.
Permanent contract hires are
doing well
. The
only good news in this dismal picture is the deconfinement from June 2 (with the end of the 100 km traffic limit and the reopening of most restaurants, cultural places and tourism…) has enabled the resumption of recruitments.
"This lifting of a large number of restrictions is accompanied by a marked rebound," said Dares.
Even if this trend in June quickly ran out of steam due to a drop in short-term contract recruitments much lower than in 2019 (by around 40%), "" longer "hires are reaching the levels of 2019", highlights the Dares.
A recovery "in V" on CDI in particular "which was also confirmed in July when no one expected such a rebound", underlines Unédic.
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The sectors that resist the best.
This resumption of hiring on long contracts is observed in health and the food trade in particular, which resist better because these activities are less affected by confinement.
With the gradual reopening of bars and restaurants from June 2, the contracts signed have also jumped, returning to 70% of their usual level, but with a later recovery in accommodation and catering, which nevertheless remains very much in demand. below that reached in 2019. Only the construction sector saw a higher number of hires than that observed in 2019.
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A big unknown for the government now remains: the 4th quarter of 2020 and the effects of the new reconfinement on employment.
"The situation is not at all the same," assures us the Ministry of Labor.
“In the second quarter, we stopped our economy, which is not the case with the reconfinement.
There is a very good rebound in the third quarter which shows the capacity of our economy to recover.
An example, in August and September 696,000 young people were hired ”.