2023-08-28 06:33:45
Between January and June, 25,300 business leaders lost their jobs following bankruptcy. This represents 140 cases per day, and it is 37% more than last year over the same period. These figures come from the observatory of the employment of entrepreneurs, carried out by Altares and the employers’ association GSC.
The phenomenon concerns above all owners of less than 5 employees and particularly affects hairdressers and beauticians, like all services to individuals. Faced with inflation, households reduce these expenditures deemed less necessary –… and the same scenario also penalizes the hotel and catering industry.
As for construction entrepreneurs, they are suffering from the rise in interest rates which is hampering the financing of real estate projects.
Are there other reasons for this acceleration?
Often the reasons add up, hence the high level of difficulties faced by business leaders today.
First of all, there is the end of the Covid, which is subjecting companies to a “scissor effect”: they can no longer count on the exceptional public aid received during the pandemic, and in addition they have to repay some of it, such as loans guaranteed by the state.
They also have to deal with the lifting of the moratorium on social security contributions… all with often insufficient turnover. Add to that the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, cautious banks to grant loans, and you have the ingredients that weaken companies. The observatory of the employment of entrepreneurs goes so far as to speak of a financial but also moral “exhaustion” of managers.
The end of the year does not look very good
Economic Stories Listen Later
Admittedly, the 25,000 job losses recorded over 6 months may seem “normal” in the middle of the year, when compared to pre-Covid. But some economists are sounding the alarm about a sharp rise in bankruptcies to come, much higher than before the pandemic, under the effect of the current economic deterioration. The study therefore recommends for its part to spread over time the repayment of loans and social security contributions inherited from the pandemic.
In fact, even the bosses who realize more than two million euros in turnover are now affected by the loss of employment. This “weak signal” is not insignificant as only 1% of managers anticipated this risk. Professional organizations encourage them to take out public or private unemployment insurance to give themselves every chance of bouncing back… and contributing once again to the French economy.
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