The survey reports 3.046 million recruitment projects for 2022, 323,000 more than last year.

"This development is explained by a significant increase in the proportion of establishments planning to hire", namely 32.8% in 2022 against 26.5% in 2021, according to the study.

Another record, 54.3% of recruitment projects are planned on a permanent contract (+11.5 points) and 70.8% on a long-term contract (CDI or fixed-term contract of more than six months).

"2022 is the year of all records", commented the director of studies of Pôle emploi, Stéphane Ducatez, during a press conference.

This survey, which has existed for 20 years, was carried out among 420,000 establishments between October and December 2021, therefore before the war in Ukraine.

But, "at the end of March, the offers submitted to Pôle emploi, our barometer of the labor market, remain very dynamic, at an extremely high level", underlined Mr. Ducatez.

"For the moment employers are looking to recruit".

The increase in recruitment projects is driven by construction (+21.8%), industry (+23.8%) and accommodation-catering (+23.4%).

The most sought-after occupations are seasonal workers in agriculture and the hotel and catering industry, care and support occupations (caregivers, home helps, nurses), maintenance workers, logistics (truck drivers, handlers).

The dynamic is driven by establishments with less than 50 employees, which represent 7 out of 10 new hires.

Recruitment difficulty

As a result of this increase, recruitment difficulties have also reached an unprecedented level.

In 2022, 57.9% of hiring projects are considered "difficult" by employers, an increase of 13 points.

If these difficulties are greater in small companies "which do not have an HR department (Human Resources, editor's note) and often have to recruit urgently", they are also strong in large ones, "especially since in a period of economic recovery, many companies are recruiting at the same time”, underlines Mr. Ducatez.

The greatest difficulties are in construction (roofers, plumbers, carpenters, painters...), industry (boilermakers, welders...) car repair and health.

Companies fear first of all not having enough candidates, or with an inadequate profile.

In nearly 9 cases out of 10, recruitment will take place, but it will take longer, the employer will have to make the offer more attractive (working conditions, salary), expand its recruitment or train a candidate.

To resolve these difficulties, 86% of recruiters plan to call on Pôle emploi.

The operator will be able to "identify job seekers with the capacity to occupy a position, even if they do not have the diploma or the experience", "offer professional immersions of seven to eight days on average to discover a job", or "finance pre-employment training", explains Catherine Poux, director of business services.

Hiring intentions differ from the total number of hires because hiring an employee from another company can lead to a cascade of hires.

In 2021, 87% of recruiters who announced that they intended to hire made at least one hire.

© 2022 AFP