Whether in terms of activity or job creation in the private sector, France ended the fourth quarter of 2023 at exactly the same level as it started it: stagnating.
In total, in 2023, the country has not managed to create more than 114,000 jobs, indicates Dares in its new note on the labor market, published this Wednesday.
The figure is certainly honorable, but well below the 350,000 net creations recorded in 2022. The main causes of this loss of momentum are high inflation and sluggish growth.
But also, the end of several proactive policies which have made it possible to increase the share of people in employment in recent years - starting with apprenticeship, responsible for a third of the positions generated and which should now plateau.
Construction struggling
This slowdown is bad news for all economic players.
Business leaders can nevertheless be pleased to see recruitment tensions ease slightly, after the peak reached during 2022. The share of bosses reporting difficulties in finding the necessary workforce is increasing. then established more than 60% in services, more than 65% in industry and even more than 80% in construction.
At the start of 2024, and after five consecutive quarters of decline, these rates have fallen to 53% for the secondary sector and 44% in the tertiary sector.
Only construction does not seem to be able to escape from these tensions.
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At the same time, vacant jobs are also experiencing a sharp decline.
In companies with more than 10 employees, they currently represent “only” 2.1% of positions, down 0.4 points over one year.
However, the fight is far from won for the government, which continues to point out this paradox between companies failing to recruit and continued high unemployment.
According to Dares, the situation would still concern nearly 332,000 positions at the end of 2023, an increase of more than 50% compared to before the Covid crisis.
Enough to push the executive to want to increase the pressure on job seekers.
In his general policy speech, the new Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, admitted to wanting to
“go further in the reform of unemployment insurance (…) to encourage ever more people to return to work.
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