Nearly 30,000 business leaders lost their jobs in the first half of the year, a fifth more than the same period last year, according to a report by the GSC association and the Altares firm published on Sunday, August 25.
This affected 29,958 people during the first six months of the year, an increase of 18.4% in one year. Altares recorded 57,729 business failures in 2023, an increase of 35.8% compared to 2022. The average age of the affected entrepreneurs is 45.8 years.
Difficulty imagining a “bounce”
Despite the “desire to start a business” that has been rife in France for the past twenty years, “four out of ten companies will not celebrate their fifth birthday,” said Thierry Millon, director of the Altares studios, in a press release published on Sunday, referring to “the trauma” suffered by these bosses, in particular “the third group over 50 years of age who will have more difficulty considering their recovery.”
Managers of companies with fewer than five employees account for almost nine out of 10 layoffs. The number of managers of companies with 6 to 9 employees affected increased by 40.2%, to 1,661, and the number of managers of SMEs with 10 to 19 employees increased by 31.1%, to 1,378.
These companies suffer from “insufficient financial structures that weaken them,” the study says. Managers of companies with a turnover of less than 500,000 euros represent 76.5% of those affected.
A “priority” issue for the future Prime Minister
The increase in job losses is similar across age groups, from 15.8% for those under 26 (2.5% of those affected) to 19.7% for those aged 41 to 50 (28.6%). The real estate crisis affects all construction professionals: 7,669 entrepreneurs lost their jobs in the first half of the year (+34.2%).
The trade sector lost 6,456 managers (+15%), transport and logistics 1,296 (+30.5%), and business services 3,716 (+18.2%). There were numerous job losses in accommodation, catering and beverage establishments (3,734), but with a smaller increase (+7.6%).
A quarter of the jobs lost (7,215, +32%) are in the Ile-de-France region. New Aquitaine and Upper France are the regions that have seen the most job losses, with increases of 9.5% and 6.6% respectively.
“Our job and wealth creators are abandoned as soon as their ship sinks,” laments Anthony Streicher, president of the GSC (Business Leaders’ Social Guarantee) association, a voluntary unemployment insurance scheme set up by employers’ organisations for the self-employed. For him, this must be “a priority issue” for the new Prime Minister.
Source: BFM TV
