Europe1.fr 06:50 a.m., March 12, 2024

According to the ManpowerGroup employment outlook barometer, nearly 34% of companies anticipate an increase in their workforce over the period from April to June 2024. Over the same period, 16% of companies surveyed anticipate a reduction in their workforce.

In the last quarter, this rate was 13%, a rate identical to the same period last year.

Figures which demonstrate a timid return of optimism within companies, despite the encouraging prospect of the Olympic Games.

“Like an economic situation which is regaining some color, the second quarter of 2024 promises to be more favorable than the start of the year.”

For Alain Roumilhac, president of ManpowerGroup Southern Europe, despite some declines in the communication and IT sectors, recruitment is up in most sectors, compared to 2023.

The cause: the Olympic Games.

The event will generate peaks in needs and hiring.

But companies nevertheless prefer to play the moderate hiring card in order to control their payroll and their budgets in a year that is as uncertain as it is full of optimism.

5 sectors stand out 

Among the nine sectors analyzed by the ManpowerGroup barometer, five sectors display net employment forecasts that stand out.

Among them, the Transport, Logistics and Automotive sector comes out on top with a net employment forecast of +31%, up 8 points compared to the previous quarter (+21%) but recording everything from even a drop of 7 points compared to the same quarter last year (+38%).

Then, the Health sector targets a net employment forecast of +26%.

The sector also recorded an increase of 11% and returned to match the figures for the same quarter of last year (26% vs. 29%).

A stabilization supported, among other things, by government announcements relating to medical personnel and the HPV vaccination campaign, the second injection of which will take place in the spring, supported by a state communication campaign.

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As a result, the Finance and Real Estate sector arrives with a net employment forecast of 25%, which records a slight increase (+2%) but remains 12% lower than the same quarter of the previous year. .

In a sector which experienced numerous upheavals last year (increase in credit rates, overall drop in the number of sales, etc.), the year 2024 should mark an improvement in the sector with an expected rebound in sales, particularly linked to the fall in mortgage rates.

The Services and Consumer Goods sector is also on the rise with a net employment forecast of +22%, and is recovering after having reached only +8% in the first quarter of 2024 and returns to a similar level in the same period. last year (22% vs. 26%).

The top 5 is closed by the industrial sector with a net employment forecast of 21%, on similar bases to the previous quarter (20%) and the same period last year (25%).

Contrasts in recruitment between regions

For certain regions, the hiring prospects for the second quarter of 2024 will be marked by an increase as in Burgundy-Franche-Comté with +26%, Occitanie with +23% or more marking Corsica with +28%.

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But the situation is less idyllic in certain regions.

In Hauts-de-France for example, net employment forecasts are 7%, or half as much as in the previous quarter, with 28% of companies planning to recruit and almost half announcing the opposite. .

A falling payroll is therefore to be expected.