Employer unemployment continues to rise at a steady pace

When a company closes its doors, it’s not just the employees who lose their jobs. The boss also finds himself on the floor. The GSC association – which offers unemployment insurance to those who want it – constitutes a valuable thermometer in this area and the conclusions it draws are cause for concern.

In the first half of the year, 29,958 business leaders lost their jobs, according to the latest data from the Employment Observatory for Entrepreneurs GSC and the Altares group. What is important is not as much as this figure in total value, since the cover is optional, but it is an evolution and it is not good. The curve of the pandemic, which has seen new GSC-compensated redundancies fall due to state aid, is well and truly closed.

The curves of the pandemic closed

In 2022 and 2023, they had already jumped, with an increase of one third each year. Certainly the rate of progress was halved over the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period of 2023 at +18.4%. But the level observed is “close to the highest levels reached in France about ten years ago”, confirms the observatory. And before the Covid-19 crisis, it was time for a decline in claims, with the number of new claims falling to around 45,000 in 2019.

“For the person who will be named as Prime Minister in a few days, the fight against the loss of jobs of business leaders must be the main issue! More than 180 entrepreneurs have lost their jobs every day since the beginning of the year,” says Anthony Streicher, president of the GSC association, which is managed by the three employers’ groups.

“Over 180 Entrepreneurs Every Day”

This decline in the situation is to be associated with the increase in business failures identified by administrators and legal representatives . Between January and June, the total number of defects increased by 18% compared to the first half of 2023. It is around 33,500, a figure 20% higher than the average level seen in 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic.

The situation is different depending on the type of business. The liberal professions are an exception, with a reduction in compensation openings (the numbers are not significant enough among managers of limited companies and general partnerships). In contrast, it is among the directors of simplified joint-stock companies – which make up the majority of the soldiers (about 46%) – that the most notable progress, at +28.7%, is ahead on artisans and traders (+22.6%).

Strong increase in compensation for managers of companies with 6 to 9 employees

In terms of the sector, construction is paying the heaviest price, the number of business leaders who asked for compensation increased by 34.2% in the first half of the year, ahead of the trade sector (+ 15%). Small business owners (fewer than 5 employees) are the most affected, as always, representing 9 out of 10 job losses but the number of managers of businesses with 6 to 9 employees affected saw a significant increase (+40.2 %) and those in structures with 10 to 19 employees not far behind, at +31.1%.

“These companies do not have enough financial structures that weaken them: heavy payment, difficulties in competing in calls for tenders, in financing the development or even in ‘​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Repaying cash flow-dependent Covid debts”, according to the observatory. “Entrepreneurs at the head of structures whose turnover is less than 500,000 euros represent nearly three quarters (76.5%) of the women and men affected (12,715), confirming the fragility of small structures,” he insists.