Executive hiring has virtually recovered to pre-Covid levels, with roughly 270,000 permanent or fixed-term contracts of more than a year filed last year. Employers continue to pay women less than males because they prefer younger workers.
By a hair, but not by much. It's hard not to be optimistic about hiring in 2021 when the Association for the Employment of Executives (Apec) director general, Gilles Gateau, is on course to exceed the 281,300 hires of 2019. Monday was the day when the jury's decision was made public: 269,100 CDI or CDD for an extended period of time. Compared to 2020, this is a significant increase (+18 percent), but it does not erase the negative connotations associated with the Covid disaster.
According to Gilles Gateau, "the year 2021 was obviously that of the resurgence, better than projected if we look to the employment plans announced by employers a year earlier," he says.
Nearly 270,000 new employees have been hired, and just under 56,000 people have been promoted inside the company to this position. The amount of executive posts generated in 2021 will be 63,500 if we exclude the 261,500 resignations, dismissals, or retirements. It's a stunning (+72%) rise over a year, but far short of the 75,000 new positions added in 2019.
Mid-year rebound
It was clear in June of last year that management employment had improved due to the three main drivers: IT (56,480, +20 percent in one year), engineering-R & D (36,140, +11 percent), and legal, accounting, and consulting activities (25,760, +31 percent). The 2019 regime has not yet been restored to three engines.
Some industries, including as banking and insurance, health care, and social assistance, have recovered to pre-crisis levels, but others have not (hotels, catering, leisure or communication in particular.
Many recent college grads and those with less than five years of work experience have profited from this trend.
The benefits of learning
"Companies have had to adjust in the face of recruiting challenges. An Apec report cites a 40% increase in the number of companies hiring leaders with less experience than projected. "This trend may have helped young graduates," Apec states.
Employers still adhere to ways of doing business that date back decades. This year's pay is "small in light of inflation, and remains as severely unfair between men and women executives," according to the Association for Women in Business Executives. Only between 54,000 and 47,000 euros does the median gross annual income difference widen between the first and second.
Average salaries for female executives are rising as a result of the growing number of female executives being promoted to positions of responsibility. There is still a gender disparity in terms of the proportion of women with an increase, despite all the agreements that have been made to address this issue, according to Gilles Gateau, who laments that the mobility incentive prevails over catch-up initiatives.
Source : LesEchos