The growing difficulties experienced by companies already seem to have had a negative effect on employment. 20,000 private sector salaried jobs were lost in the 2nd quarter of 2024, a decrease of -0.1% and a growing number of sectors of activity recorded losses (37 sectors out of the 88 that make up the nomenclature used here). If we zoom in on those in the greatest difficulty, we find, unsurprisingly, the sectors of the Construction - Real Estate sector such as Building and landscaping services (-2,600 jobs), Building construction (-2,900), Real estate activities (-3,900 jobs) and Specialized construction work (-6,700 jobs) which suffered very heavy losses but also the Temporary employment sector, always the first victim of economic slowdowns (-16,200 jobs).
Another sector in turmoil is mass retail. Faced with inflation and changes in consumer expectations that threaten the sustainability of the hypermarket model in particular, the turkey phone number list Retail sector (excluding automobiles and motorcycles) , which includes the Hypermarket and Supermarket sectors , lost almost 6,400 private sector salaried jobs in the 2nd quarter of 2024. After the collapse of the Casino group at the beginning of the year (an accelerated rescue plan for the group was validated by the Paris Commercial Court in February), another leader in mass retail is under threat: the Auchan group. Faced with a drop in turnover and a spectacular loss of results (1 billion euros for its parent company Elo, which includes both Auchan and its real estate activities according to Le Monde), the company is now forced to drastically reduce its operating costs, which should have serious repercussions on employment.
While the overall employment figures remain positive over the year and are reassuring, the decline in the Construction – Real Estate sector, mass distribution and temporary work appears even deeper, with the Building Construction sector losing more than 8,800 jobs , Retail trade (excluding automobiles and motorcycles) 12,300, Real Estate activities more than 15,000 , Specialized construction work 18,000 and Employment-related activities (temporary work) more than 50,000! These major economic sectors are facing a real haemorrhage.
Another negative signal in terms of employment is the significant slowdown in pre-hiring declarations [2] . These have been decreasing continuously for 2 years, particularly for contracts of more than one month, while the most precarious contracts are increasing (while permanent hires have decreased by -6.3% since the 2nd quarter of 2022, those on contracts of less than one month have increased by 3.5%!). This phenomenon attests to a slowdown in recruitment dynamics by companies.