Career: French employers are reluctant to hire foreigners

Despite recruitment difficulties, only 29% of managers of industrial SMEs and ETIs plan to hire foreign employees in the next five years, according to a study published by Bpifrance on Monday. Among these companies with 10 to 5,000 employees, more than half (54%) of the 2,454 employers in the sample do not know if they will hire foreigners in the coming years, 29% say they will and 17% say they will not. from third countries.

Asked for advice on bringing more foreign workers to France, 32% of managers of industrial SMEs and ETIs were in favor, 30% were unfavorable and 38% did not know.

6% of the workforce in the industry

From the electronics sector through the automobile sector to healthcare, industries stand out for their low use of foreign workers. It represents only 6% of the workforce, according to BPFrance, against 13% in construction or 10% in “technical or engineering operations”.

It is surprising at first glance that the Ministry of Labor said that 62% of the respondents are experiencing difficulty in recruitment and there are almost 60,000 vacancies in the industry by the end of September 2022.

“It’s hard to see how we can reindustrialize without resorting to foreign workers.”

Nicolas Dufourcq, CEO of Bpifrance

Candidate Skills

Employers are more interested in job candidates’ skills than nationality. “We are looking for people who want to work, get involved and make sure that everyone progresses. Then, if it’s a foreigner or it’s a French, it doesn’t matter to me,” says the survey respondent, boss of a company with 11 employees in the wood sector.

Almost one in two industrial SMEs or ETIs (49%) have also hired foreign workers in the past five years. The top two reasons for top managers to hire expatriates are “not having the right candidate (62%) and/or not having their own candidate (43%)”.

Only 9% of respondents integrate expatriates to “ensure diversity” of their teams, and 8% “to acquire a talent that is rare in the market”. However, Elise Tissier, director of Bpifrance’s research department, warns that attracting foreign workers is “not a miracle solution” to the industry’s recruitment difficulties. He adds that training and improving the image of industrial enterprises are decisive.

The survey was conducted by mail and online with 30,000 managers of industrial SMEs and ETIs from September 23 to December 15, 2022, of which 2,454 responded. It was fed by interviews with 13 business leaders and four industry representatives.

(AFP)Show comments