The cooling of the labor market is confirmed in 2024, including among executives, reveals the barometer of recruitment forecasts from the Association for the Employment of Executives (APEC), carried out from November 14, 2023 to January 24, 2024 and published Tuesday April 2.
Hiring will continue at a high level, for this category of workers which has experienced a relatively stable full employment situation for years, with 337,000 permanent and fixed-term contract recruitments of one year or more expected in 2024, compared to 330 700 a year ago.
But the dynamic is slowing down significantly, with an annual increase expected at +2%, compared to +7% a year earlier. A slowdown which can be explained by “business prudence and the economic situation”, explains Pierre Lamblin, director of studies at APEC. The year 2023 marked the return to pre-pandemic normal in the pace of recruitment, but employers, already faced with a lack of candidates, had made forecasts significantly lower than what they ultimately achieved: 330,700 hires completed compared to 308,800. considered. “Another record year”underlines Gilles Gateau, Director General of APEC, who sees hope for 2024.
High value-added services
The effect of prudence could come into play again this year, reinforced by the evolution of the economic situation. The economic context is in fact not unrelated to the slowdown announced for 2024: growth is less favorable to employment and “companies could reduce their investments by 0.4%”specifies Laetitia Niaudeau, Deputy Director General of APEC.
Employers must more than ever make choices, clearly guided by digital and environmental transitions. The number of recruitments planned for high value-added services (189,200) continues to increase (+ 4%), while the commerce sector is weakened (− 1%, to 27,000) and real estate is going through a crisis. historic crisis (−30%, to 3,400). In 2024, more than one in two hires will be in IT, sales and research and development.
Disparities in hiring intentions are found in the regions, depending on their economic activities. From one year to the next, forecasts for executive recruitment in Pays de la Loire only increase by 4% (compared to 18% in 2023), in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes by 3% (compared to 14%), in Occitania by 3% (compared to 12%), and in the Grand-Est by 1% (compared to 8%). But with their increases of 4% and 3%, the Pays de la Loire and Occitanie regions maintain the highest rates of the year, driven by “the right direction” IT activities and “the right outfit” of the aeronautical industry, comments APEC.
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