the sectors that recruit the most

The Ministers of the Interior and of Labor plan to create a “short-term occupations” residence permit
to recruit in the sectors in need of arms, they indicated in the The world newspaper
this Wednesday, November 2. Nurses, caregivers, bus drivers, auto mechanics, salespeople, roofers, waiters or cooks… many professions are indeed suffering from a lack of manpower and despite their needs, employers fail to recruit candidates. According to an Adecco-Analytics study unveiled at the end of September, more than 4.5 million recruitments are planned in France
over the next 12 months.

Here are the sectors most in need of labor right now, and those on which we must bet in the years to come.

Six in ten employers struggle to recruit

This year, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit: in 2022, 57.9% of hiring projects are considered difficult by employers, indicates Employment center
in a study. A figure up 13 points compared to 2021.

A trend confirmed by the agency’s latest figures: in the second quarter of this year, the number of job offers in the field of industry increased by 21% compared to the same period last year, indicates Emmanuel Chion, assistant to the director of statistics at Pôle emploi at France Bleu. In the hotel and catering sector, there are 22% more offers, and in trade, 13%.

Increase in hirings on permanent contracts

In parallel, employers are hiring more and more on permanent contracts, notes Emmanuel Chion. It has 16% more hires on permanent contracts this year compared to February 2020, before the health crisis.

The 15 professions that recruit the most this year

This difficulty in recruiting candidates concerns most trades. The sectors most concerned are those of the hotel and catering industry, security and surveillance officers, cashiers and self-service employees and industrial worker trades. Agricultural trades are also among the most sought-after trades, says the agency. Pôle Emploi specifies that the vast majority of these hiring intentions are seasonal.

Apart from seasonal jobs, the most sought-after professions are business service occupations, such as building cleaners, unskilled packing workers and handlers. The professions of the hotel and catering industry as well as care and support, home helpers and housekeepers, in particular, are also highly sought after.

Labor needs by region

Compared to 2021, the number of recruitment projects is increasing in all regions except in Guyana and Mayotte, notes Pôle emploi.

Hospitality and catering professions, a “cyclical” shortage

The first group of the most sought-after trades, seasonal or not, according to Pôle emploi, includes the hotel and catering sector: coffee shop waiters, kitchen helpers and general catering workers, cooks, and hotel workers.

But for Philippe Duport, a journalist specializing in the world of work at franceinfo
and author of the chronicle “It’s my job”,
the shortage in this sector will not last for years to come. “The big resignation hit the catering staff hard”he recalls, “due to very difficult working conditions”. But for him, this lack of labor is temporary, and he “this is a temporary crisis”, which will end with the advent of new working conditions and more attractive salaries.

Care and support professions, “extreme tensions”

According to the Pôle Emploi study, the second group experiencing the most glaring recruitment difficulties is that of care and support professions. Nurses, orderlies, home helps and housekeepers are experiencing a particularly severe shortage of manpower.

“These professions are experiencing extreme tensions and this trend will continue in the years to come”, analyzes Philippe Duport. “Care professions”, in other words care, “linked to the aging of the population, are obviously called upon to develop and recruit a lot”, he continues.

The Federation of Paramedics
for example, recently said that 15,000 ambulance positions were to be filled, twice as many as last year. This is a quarter of the workforce in the sector. “Professionals leave their posts as requests explode”, explains Philippe Duport. For him, we should bet on these professions, but they no longer attract vocations, “because they are difficult and not very well paid, with a lot of hardship”, he recalls.

Gateways to “cousin” professions to attract candidates?

One of the ways to attract candidates would be, according to him, to create bridges to trades in the same sector, but more qualified. The federation of paramedics imagines, for example, that professionals who engage in the profession could hope, thanks to a validation of acquired experience and additional training, to become a nurse, caregiver, or emergency doctor after 5 to 7 years of experience.

“These gateways would allow young people to get involved in the profession with a prospect of development within ten years, and to accompany them on their journey”explains Philippe Duport. “This is what is lacking a lot in France, mobility between professions”he laments. It’s really a hindrance.”

A crying lack of manpower in transport

The transport sector is suffering also labor shortages. Truck drivers are in high demand. This is also the case for coach, bus or metro drivers. RATP offers up to 500 euros bonus
to its employees who would present candidates to it! “These jobs are also difficult, with a certain arduousness, gaps in the schedules and locations that do not always suit the candidates”decrypts Philippe Duport.

The construction sector under pressure from energy renovation

But the recruitment difficulties concern most trades anyway, notes Pôle Emploi. Among the professions most in demand, we also find the professions of construction, with roofers (89.9% of recruitment projects are considered difficult by employers), plumbers and heating engineers (80.6%), the carpenters (80.1%) or the skilled paint workers and some building finish (79.6%).

A sector driven by the enormous needs of the energy transition, in particular to renovate and insulate buildings, explains Philippe Duport: “The French are pushed by the law on the insulation of buildings, and all trades related to this sector will experience an upturn in the years to come.he predicts.

Industry, auto repair: 8 out of 10 employers are struggling to recruit

The auto repair and industrial trades present also significant recruitment difficulties, such as vehicle mechanics (81.6%), car bodybuilders (81.3%), welders (79.7%) or skilled mechanical maintenance workers (78.7 %).

The trade sector understaffed, the metaverse in the line of sight

Employers are also finding it increasingly difficult to recruit commercial employees, furniture, household equipment and DIY salespeople, self-service employees and security and surveillance officers.

For Philippe Duport, it is nevertheless one of the sectors to focus on in the years to come. “We lack staff in stores, people to manage businesses, sellers, specialist sellers”, he explains. _

The area online sales and e-commerce is also very promising: several digital professions, such as web designers, are already in great tension. _“_There are some great careers to be had.” summarizes the specialized journalist. He also mentions the professions that will appear in the coming months with the metaverse, this online parallel universe:
“These are professions that will allow companies to take a position in the metaverse, because everyone will be coming there in the coming months, and we will need specialists. They will be a bit of gold diggers, adventurers, because the formations do not exist at the moment.”

These specialists will in fact have to invent sales spaces for companies in the metaverse : designing brand stores, thinking about the circulation of customers in these virtual spaces… The metaverse will also need lawyers to settle disputes between brands and their customers. “These needs will be there in the much shorter term than we think”, says the journalist.

Data scientists, stars of recruiters

Needs are also very important in the data sector, data related to digital. “In the world, there is a shortage of 8 million data specialists”, explains Philippe Duport. These data scientists, or data analysts, “are able to collect customer data and convert it into the possibility of commercial contact and therefore into money”, he explains. “It’s a very heavy trend, which appeared two or three years ago, and which will constantly be confirmed”, he warns. “We exchange millions of data every day, about ourselves, and this data has an incredible market value.”

For Philippe Duport, these professions will continue to recruit in the years to come, because they support the transformation of society and its major changes.