By Quentin Marais
Published on 12 Jan 21 at 13:19
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After rain the good weather. And after the good weather… the rain. Shaken by the first wave from the covid-19 epidemic in the spring of 2020, Occitania had seen an economic recovery brighten up its summer. But the second salvo fall and the return of restrictions got the better of this upturn …
The rebound before the fall
In the third quarter of 2020, salaried employment had recovered. 30 000 creations, i.e. a rebound of 1.5%, after the destruction of 52 000 jobs due to the first confinement. But according to INSEE, the second confinement caused further turbulence: economic activity fell by 12% in November, compared to normal.
December’s decrease is 8%. “It is a lower loss than during the first confinement” continues the statistician. After undergoing a historic setback of -43% in the first quarter, temporary employment rebounded + 35% in the second. But at the end of September 2020, it remains 12% below the level of December 2019.
Unemployment is on the rise
Unsurprisingly, in the third quarter, unemployment is also on the rise. In Occitania, it is 10.5%, compared to 9 for France excluding Mayotte. In the region, it is one point higher than the 2019 figure, with an increase of 1.8 points in Hautes-Pyrénées, the department most affected by this trend.
In Haute-Garonne and in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the increase amounts to 1.1 point while in the rest of the region, the figures vary from +0.5 point (Lozère) to +1 point (Aude and Hérault). The Hautes-Pyrénées are also weakened by the drop in the volume of paid work over the year: -10.6%, the highest in Occitanie, against -7 for Haute-Garonne, -5.7 for Lot or -5.5 for Ariège.
What about the aerospace industry and the hotel industry?
Two sectors which represent a lung for the economic activity of the region: the aerospace industry and the hotel industry. The first lost 4,200 employees between January and September 2020. October was the month in which Airbus delivered the most planes of the year: 72, against 64 for November, ie 477 au total since the beginning of the year. But the gap with 2019 is there: 725 deliveries were finalized between January and November.
While 93% of the region’s hotels reopened during the summer, attendance between June and September was decreased by a quarter compared to 2019, across the region. As of October, it fell by 44%, with peaks at -87% in Lourdes (Hautes-Pyrénées), -53% in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne) and -42% in Montpellier (Hérault).
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