2023-11-09 17:51:41
Still far from being worrying, the figures published by the Association for Executive Employment (Apec) on Thursday, November 9, portend a change in trend in the executive labor market. After two record years (2021 and 2022) in terms of recruitment and hiring intentions, executive job offers fell by 13% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to last year (1).
This clear slowdown is expected to increase in the fourth quarter, with -16% of offers in October compared to October 2022. Hiring intentions are also decreasing: only 10% of employers plan to recruit an executive in the next three months , compared to 12% at the start of the year.
Slowdown in the French economy
Since post-Covid, however, executive employment figures have reached records. “Despite the risks of energy disruption and inflation, the resilience of businesses in 2022 was very strong, to our greatest surprise,” expresses Gilles Gateau, director general of Apec.
Why this reversal of trend at the start of the 2023 school year? For the association, this indicator comes above all in addition to the numerous red signals which have been flashing for several months, and which announce a French economic climate at half mast in the months to come.
According to INSEE figures, growth reached +0.1% in the third quarter, after a rebound of +0.5% in the second. According to the Banque de France, it should be between +0.1% and +0.2% in the fourth. Activity in the services sector, dominant in the French economy, has been at a very low level for more than thirty months.
However, despite this decline, executive employment remains at historic levels compared to pre-Covid, reassure Apec representatives. “And we are far away of the situation of job destruction”, reassures Pierre Lamblin, director of studies and data, specifying that the last year in which France experienced job destruction was 1993. “There is definitely a slowdown, but this does not call into question the situation of almost full employment of executives: their unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in 2022, and should decrease further in 2023.”
Persistent recruitment difficulties
The decline in job offers for executives has not erased the recruitment difficulties faced by employers: three quarters of them expect difficulties in hiring, a level that is still very high. Among the sectors with the highest demand are still IT and research and development (R&D).
As for employees, 37% share the intention of changing companies in the coming year, a relatively stable figure since September 2020. The first motivation is the increase in remuneration: “In a context of inflation, executives feel that changing employers is the best way to increase their salary,” explains Laetitia Niaudeau, deputy general director. A perception that translates into reality: 74% of executives who changed companies in 2022 received a raise, compared to 55% for those who stayed with the same employer.
Finally, 10% of executives questioned say they have a concrete retraining project, a share which rises to 12% for those under 25. “These retrainings take place earlier and earlier in careers, with professional motivations but also around quality of life”, believes Gilles Gateau. A relatively new phenomenon, says the director general of Apec, which has intensified since the health crisis.
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