Posted Apr 4, 2023, 2:30 PMUpdated on Apr 4, 2023, 2:56 PM
The quarterly barometer published in early February gave a glimpse of it, the major annual survey of Apec published on Tuesday confirms it: the job market for executives in the private sector walks on water, or almost, from beginners to seniors. Not only did hiring break a record in 2022, despite the war in Ukraine, inflation and the energy crisis, not only did all regions benefit from it, but in addition the 2023 vintage looks very promising, according to the Association for executive employment.
Specifically, companies recruited 308,300 executives last year on permanent or fixed-term contracts of at least one year, crossing the 300,000 mark for the first time. That is almost 30,000 more than what was anticipated at the same time a year ago. That is, above all, 10% more than in 2019, the previous record. Added to this are 63,500 internal promotions, again a level never before seen, but which has tended to decline slowly over the past 10 years. “It challenged us a bit. There is a potential that may not be exploited enough,” noted the Director General of Apec, Gilles Gateau, in view of the recruitment difficulties which remain the number 1 problem for companies throughout Europe.
Engine investment
On the exit side of “executives”, the survey recorded nearly 292,000 resignations, dismissals, contractual terminations or retirements, again an unprecedented level, which goes hand in hand with the dynamism of hiring. All in all, the workforce has therefore grown by more than 80,000 in the private sector: it is much better than in 2019, but the Covid air pocket and the strong recovery that followed, n failed to beat the 2001 record (the number of executives having increased by 100,000 that year).
As employment is essentially driven by business investment, more than by consumption, these figures prove that the French economy is preparing for the future. Even though some uncertainties remain, geopolitical in particular, employers prefer to hire. Given the lengthening of the deadlines to get there, giving up or postponing means taking the risk of not being able to achieve them in time tomorrow, analyzes Apec.
From there, intentions to hire executives still look very well oriented this year, expected to match those achieved in 2022, still driven by value-added services (IT, engineering, consulting, legal, accounting). The other sectors promise to be a little more sluggish, without stalling for all that.
“More than 308,000 hiring intentions in 2023, it is a plateau, but a very high plateau”, underlined the deputy director general of Apec, Laetitia Niaudeau. The situation by region looks a little more contrasted than in 2022: 5 of them continuing to progress (Ile-de-France, AURA, PACA, Occitanie and Pays de la Loire), three down while doing better than in 2019 (Brittany, Normandy and Centre-Val de Loire), the others falling below their pre-pandemic level.
To note
88% of BAC+5 graduates in 2021 were in employment twelve months later (+6 points compared to the previous class).