Partial unemployment figures continue to soar, as France experiences its third week of confinement in an attempt to stem the epidemic of coronavirus. In total, 337,000 companies have requested it and 3.6 million employees are affected, revealed Wednesday the Minister of Labor Muriel Pénicaud, or nearly one in five private sector employees.
The first were employees of restaurants, cinemas, theaters and all non-food stores, all forced to close in mid-March. Some have not yet entered the system since their bosses have 30 days to file their request.
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Tertiary, industry and building affected
Very quickly were added the employees of a certain number of companies authorized to continue their activity but who had to face the shock of an suddenly slowed down economy. They are thus victims of the domino effect of the supplier who can no longer deliver them, which even prevents them from fulfilling the orders of their customers, leading them, in turn, to reduce the airfoil. A situation that concerns many companies, including larger ones from the tertiary sector, but also from industry and construction.
Fear of unemployment rising
And if the figure reaches 3.6 million employees today, it could well continue to increase according to economists from the French Observatory of Economic Conditions (OFCE) who estimate that after a month of confinement , 5.7 million in total should switch to partial unemployment.
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If their number did not exceed this figure, the recovery could, then, not be too painful, the measure having achieved its goal: no or few layoffs. But if the shutdown of the economy continues, the OFCE fears that unemployment will start to rise again.