Laura Laplaud / Photo credit: GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO / POOL / AFP
This is the second act of “crossing the street to find work”. In Marseille, President Emmanuel Macron assured the mother of a job seeker that there were “ten possible offers” for his son, inviting him to “go around the Old Port” on Monday evening in his company to illustrate his point. Shortly after, a journalist from the daily Provence decided to check out the President’s little phrase. Are there really ten job vacancies in the Old Port?
35-hour contracts for 1,966 euros gross per month
On condition of anonymity, and without a CV under her arm, the journalist went to meet the managers of the bars and restaurants that populate the Old Port of Marseille. After 1h30 of walking, 13 job offers were offered to him, reveals Aurélien Viers, editorial director of Provenceat the microphone of Europe 1 Midi.
In detail, it is a 35-hour contract for 1,966 euros gross per month. If the salary does not dream, some bosses have said they are ready to adjust the schedules, as explained by Aurélien Viers. “They were willing to offer to do either weekends or one evening service or two evening services to earn more.” Because they know it, since the Covid-19 crisis, the relationship of employees to work has changed.
“In the northern districts, it takes 1h30 to get to the Old Port again”
It is clear that the hotel and catering sector is struggling to recruit, as noted by the journalist from Provence. “A lot of servers run off after a few weeks of experience,” the managers explained. And according to Aurélien Viers, the isolation of the Marseille city is another point not to be overlooked. “In the northern districts, it takes 1h30 to get to the Old Port again, a lot of walking. There is a tram or metro every 20 minutes and when you find one, you have to walk a lot to get there. And in the evening , to come back, that’s not possible either because it stops very early.”
Low pay, staggered hours, evening and weekend services, as well as the lack of public transport in the city would therefore be multiple reasons to explain the absence of candidates for these job offers.