By typing the keyword "
hairdressing
" on the Pôle Emploi site, some 4,068 offers appeared on Tuesday, when 34,000 were listed in catering and 22,000 in electricity.
A figure well below reality, according to Christophe Doré, president of the National Union of Hairdressing Companies (Unec): the profession would need 10,000 to 12,000 new pairs of hands.
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Is the health crisis the only culprit?
Yes and no.
Relegated to the rank of “
non-essential
” businesses during the first two confinements, hair salons had to lower the curtain for several months.
A shortfall of around 19.5% in 2020 over one year, according to Unec.
In June, four out of ten shows had not returned to their pre-crisis level of activity.
"The attitude is not the same"
“
Customers are scarce,”
says
Figaro,
the manager of a salon in the 9th arrondissement in Paris.
Since December, I have been managing on my own and would still prefer to recruit a student preparing for a vocational baccalaureate
[more experienced than a vocational aptitude certificate].
Young people aged 18 cost less: count 300 euros per month for an apprentice who has just reached the age of majority, a minimum wage for the elderly
”. The professional also deplores a lack of motivation, since the beginning of the health crisis: “
The attitude is not the same. I can't say anything if an employee is sick. Impossible to verify
".
And the scourge is not confined to hairdressing ... Many manual employees did not wish to resume their work, exhausting, with extended hours.
“
My former boss gave up aesthetics to join the SNCF
, tells us a hairdresser from the same neighborhood.
Very few hairdressers submit spontaneous applications, no apprentices,
”she adds.
"The scissor effect"
Second problem, according to Unec, "
the transfer of wage labor to micro-entrepreneurship continues and the latter is progressing to the detriment of traditional individual enterprise
".
“I also became a self-entrepreneur this year, benefiting from reduced loads from URSSAF
[which increase over time].
Word of mouth works well. The service is more user-friendly and above all we don't have the pressure of numbers at all costs
”. But the problem with this migration is learning, reserved for trade fairs. “
I call on hairdressers to continue training young and old. Because if some leave hairdressing, others retrain. It's the scissor effect
”,apostrophe Christophe Doré.
The government to the rescue
We have to go back to François Hollande's mandate to understand where this labor shortage comes from.
Training aid had been revised downwards, causing the number of apprentices to fall "
by about 5000
".
Since it takes five to seven years to train a hairdresser, the effects are felt naturally today.
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But the current government has taken the issue head on. This summer, he put an end to an old decree from 1992, limiting the number of apprentices per establishment. A seasoned professional can thus supervise two, against a ratio of three to one until then. He also put his hand in the portfolio by extending the exceptional aid for the hiring of work-study trainees (apprenticeship and professionalization contract) until June 30, 2022. “
This bonus provided for in the context of the recovery plan of 5,000 euros for a minor and 8000 euros for a major, had already been renewed in the spring until December 2021
”, specifies the professional organization.
Among the measures suggested by Christophe Doré, there is the revaluation of salaries on the part of business leaders, the maintenance of training aid, the reduction of charges and VAT at 10%, as in the building industry.
On this last point, the public authorities are categorical but they remain confident.
“
I am very optimistic.
Hairdressing has been recognized as an essential trade for the last confinement, a real source of pride!
Our job is in the light, especially with regard to the guidance of children, ”he
hopes.
