What if the Great Resignation was actually offset by a much more significant “Great Hire” phenomenon? This is what could emerge from the latest report from the Directorate of Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares) that evokes an acceleration in hiring in the second quarter. In mainland France, 6,615,100 employment contracts were thus signed between April and June outside the agricultural sector and temporary contracts: 6.1% more than in the first three months of 2022 and 8.1% more than in the fourth quarter of 2019, the last pre-covid.
Fixed-term contracts in small tertiary structures
If we look at the distribution of these approximately 6.6 million hires in the second quarter, we see that about 5.5 million of them are fixed-term contracts, showing a quarterly increase of 7.3%, while permanent contracts they are practically stagnant, at +0.4%. On the other hand, both types of contracts saw their number increase significantly compared to the last quarter of 2019, by +6.2% for fixed-term contracts and even +18.2% for indefinite contracts.
In addition, it is companies with less than 50 employees that are driving this increase in hiring and, in particular, the smaller VSEs that claim a quarterly increase in their hiring of 11.6% compared to 7.4% of structures that employ between 10 and 49 employees and a slight +2% for larger companies. In addition, only the tertiary sector shows an increase in hiring for the second half of 2022 (+6.6%). Industry and construction show decreases, very weak for the former (-0.2%) and more important for the latter (-4.6%).
The end of the contract is also accelerated
Another observation made by the entity attached to the Ministry of Labor: the termination of contracts also increased, by 6.4% compared to the first quarter, to reach a figure of 6,519,300. Like hiring, this concern is given priority to small establishments with less than 10 employees (+11.2%) or those whose workforce ranges between 10 and 49 employees (+8.3%). Larger companies are also affected, but to a much lesser extent (+2.6%). There they also accelerated more in the tertiary sector with +6.7% compared to +1.4% for construction and +2% for industry.
Of the approximately 6.5 million contracts closed in the second quarter, more than 5.4 million were fixed-term contracts, 7.1% more. Thus, early terminations of fixed-term contracts are more numerous than in the first three months of the 2022 financial year (+9.3%).
On the CDI side, the number of CDI casualties increased by 3.3% in the second quarter and reached a level almost 16% higher than that observed before the health crisis. Great Obligations to Resign, the resignations of indefinite contracts increase practically 5% in a quarter and even 27.5% in a year, while dismissals for economic reasons have been reduced by more than 10% after a strong increase in the first trimester (almost 12%).
Source: BFM TV
