25,000 business leaders have lost their jobs since January

2023-08-28 18:38:00

A study reveals the difficulties of entrepreneurs for the first six months of the 2023 financial year. All sectors seem to be affected.

By Hugo Romani for Le Point More and more hairdressers, like the construction sector or the restaurant sector, are finding themselves unemployed. © HENDRIK SCHMIDT / DPA / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP Published on 08/28/2023 at 6:38 p.m.

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The Entrepreneurs’ Observatory study, by the Altares firm and the GSC association, made public by The Parisian, draws an edifying conclusion. In barely 6 months, more than 25,000 entrepreneurs have lost their jobs and find themselves unemployed. Restaurant owners, hairdressers, builders and many other sectors are affected by this phenomenon. This trend is up significantly: + 36.6% compared to the first six months of 2022.

The smallest companies are unsurprisingly the most affected. The typical entrepreneur finding himself unemployed at the start of 2023 runs a company with fewer than 5 employees and with a turnover of less than 500,000 euros: this composite portrait corresponds to 90% of unemployed bosses. But even entrepreneurs at the head of larger structures are affected: in one year, the number of business leaders with more than 20 employees finding themselves unemployed has doubled.

40-year-olds and the construction sector more affected

With regard to the age of the unemployed entrepreneur, he would be on average 46 years old, even if the loss of employment affects more and more young bosses (+ 40% among those under 26). The most affected sector seems to be construction, with a 50% increase between 2022 and 2023. However, the director of studies at Altares lists other sectors such as “catering companies, personal services, hairdressers or retail traders”.

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Finally, the most affected regions are, again unsurprisingly, the most populated: Île-de-France with almost a quarter of unemployed entrepreneurs (5,468), followed by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (2,902 ), Occitania (2,239) and New Aquitaine (2,130). And this sad phenomenon may not be over: according to projections by the Observatory of Entrepreneurs, 35,000 new entrepreneurs could find themselves out of work by the end of the year.