Hiring of executives in private companies fell by 19% last year compared to 2019, while 2021 is not expected to return to "pre-crisis level" health, according to a study by the Association for management employment (Apec). The association particularly alerts on the situation of young graduates, who are struggling to fit into the job market. 

Hiring of executives in private companies fell by 19% last year compared to 2019, while 2021 is not expected to return to "pre-crisis level" health, placing young graduates in "a worrying situation" , according to a study by the Association for the Employment of Executives (Apec) published on Friday.

This decline in 2020 in recruiting executives from the private sector is "less dizzying than the forecasts of the fall let fear" and the drop is "all in all comparable to the great crises of the past", notes the Apec in a press release.

Young graduates weakened 

Indeed, a survey of hiring intentions, carried out in September, sounded the alarm by announcing a collapse "of 30% to 40%" of executive recruitments in 2020, after six consecutive years of increase. Finally, 228,700 hires (in CDI or CDD of one year and more) were recorded last year, more than the “170,000 to 200,000” expected in the fall. The year 2021 should see a "gradual" restart of recruitments, but "without yet returning to the pre-crisis level", warns Apec. Thus, 247,000 hires are expected, an increase of "8% compared to the terrible year 2020", but a decline of 12% compared to 2019. This rebound "still moderate" places in "a worrying situation "the young graduates" arriving on the labor market ", worries the Apec.

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This study was carried out on a representative sample of 8,000 companies, between January and March.

And the association for the employment of executives warns of this rebound "still moderate" which puts in great difficulty the young graduates arriving on the job market.

They have nothing to do with it, but the young people who obtained their bac + 5 diploma in 2019 appear to be a cursed generation.

At the start of 2021, or just a few weeks ago, one in four was still looking for a job.

And the share of those who, throughout the last year, have not found any job, even short-term, has tripled in one year.

Competition with the following promotions, pay inequalities

Their situation could become a little more complicated this year, reveals the Apec, because in their search for employment, they find themselves in competition with the young people of the class of 2020, and soon with those of the class of 2021. In detail, twelve months after obtaining their diploma, 85% of Bac +5 or more graduates in 2018 had a job, a situation shared by only 69% of those graduating in 2019. Among young Bac +3/4, the rate of Employment has also fallen, falling to 71% (against 82%), according to this barometer carried out by interviewing 1,500 young graduates in 2019 (Bac +3/4 and Bac +5 or more).

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The fate of those who have managed to get a job is more enviable, but they too have suffered the impact of the crisis: the contracts they have signed are more often precarious contracts. The share of permanent contract hires fell by 10 points compared to the previous year. The young recruits also had to revise their salary expectations downwards: less 3% on average in one year. A decrease which is even more marked among young women: -7%, against less than 1% only among male graduates.