Companies in the aeronautics and space sector in the Great South-West (Occitanie and New Aquitaine) lost 5,800 employees during the first nine months of 2020, in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, INSEE indicated on Friday.
These job losses - excluding temporary work - represent a drop of 3.6% in the workforce of establishments in the sector, specifies the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.
Read also: Aeronautics hopes for a clearing up in 2021 thanks to vaccines
Before the new coronavirus crisis, which severely disrupted air traffic, employment in this sector had “
increased significantly throughout 2019. It stabilized in the first quarter of 2020, then fell sharply from the second quarter
", According to the press release.
"
The difference is clear between the principals (such as Airbus, ATR, Dassault or CNES), whose workforce remains stable, and the supply chain, whose workforce is shrinking by more than 5%
", underlines the Insee.
“
Metallurgy and tertiary activities are the sectors most affected, with respective decreases of 8.7% and 5%, ie 1,700 and 2,600 fewer employees in each of these sectors
”, explains the Institute, noting a “
better resistance
”in aircraft construction and maintenance.
At the level of the departments, the Lot is the most affected in the Great South-West (-8.7%).
Its sub-prefecture, Figeac, constitutes in itself the heart of the "
Mecanic Vallée
" thanks to Ratier and Figeac Aéro, two equipment suppliers of Airbus and Boeing.
Moreover, because of its weight in the sector, Haute-Garonne is the department which loses the largest number of employees (-3,200), ie a drop of 3.4%.
Faced with the collapse of the sector, which should only return to its 2019 level between 2023 and 2025, Airbus - whose world headquarters are in the Toulouse metropolitan area - lowered its production rates last April.
This drop in work had led him to announce the elimination of 15,000 jobs worldwide, including 5,000 in France, and to resort to partial unemployment.
It had repercussions on the entire subcontractor sector.
Read also: Aeronautics: 30,000 jobs cut in France, as many saved in 2020, says Gifas
For months, aeronautical employees have been mobilizing regularly to protest against the various social plans that threaten their jobs.
At the beginning of January, the Group of French aeronautical and space industries (Gifas) announced that around 30,000 jobs had been cut in the sector following the health crisis, but that as many had been saved thanks to the support measures of the State.
