One in three French employees in the manufacturing industry will leave their job, according to a report from the General Inspectorate of Finance. Highlighted in the latest barometer from the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry, the document states that the industry will count 966,000 retirements by 2030.
« There is a demographic transition that must be managed, in the same way as the energy and digital transitions,” underlines Olivier Mousson, the president of this association.
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A dangerous loss of know-how, at a time when public authorities are trying to repatriate production to France and recruitment difficulties in factories are at a high level. According to data communicated by the Minister responsible for industry, Marc Ferracci, no less than 60% of recruitments are considered difficult by employers in the sector.
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“We are already facing a skills gap in the industry. Every year, in France, we train 45,000 engineers, while we need 60,000. The observation is identical for technicians and workers, with the symbolic example of welders who are sorely lacking. Obviously, this also pushes managers to consider creating production units abroad,” comments Stéphane Gorce, president of the Society of Arts et Métiers Engineers.
The latter has just unveiled a survey, conducted by Ifop at its request, on the perception of the industry and its challenges, by the French and 2,200 engineers in the country. For this second part of the study, recruiting and training skills appears to be the second urgent challenge to take up for French industry, for 43% of respondents, behind competitiveness with regard to international competition (52.4% ).
« We come to a turning point »
However, the recruitment mission promises to be complex. For cultural reasons, the sector suffers from a glaring disenchantment. According to the Ifop survey for the Society of Arts et Métiers Engineers carried out among 1,000 French people, only 11% of French people “ would definitely recommend their loved ones to work in the industry ».
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“This is a very low score, but better than in 2010, when this figure reached 7%. But you shouldn't expect to have 50%, no sector has such a figure. The challenge is to raise awareness of what a factory is today and erase this image of an industry from the days of Germinal,” comments Jérôme Fourquet, director of the Opinion Department at Ifop.
The social context which is opening up, with the announcement of several social plans, could discourage people from embarking on this professional path. Furthermore, this opinion survey highlights another aspect: that of the lack of social recognition, pointed out by 46.2% of the engineers surveyed.
In an attempt to restore the image of the industry, notably with the rise of robotization in factories, this structure will organize, with its partners, the first “ Open Factory Days », on April 4 and 5, based on the current Heritage Days model. Objective, to allow the general public to access production tools.
Industry Week, which is coming to an end – especially dedicated to middle and high school students – has shown new enthusiasm for its 2024 edition. According to Bercy, there are 7,400 events organized and five million participants expected, against 2,500 demonstrations and more than two million participants in 2023.
“There is still too little attractiveness of training and professions in the industrial sector in France. It's a cultural problem, but I think we're reaching a turning point. The great new phenomenon is that there is now a great collective effort around this issue,” comments thegeneral administrator of the CNAM, Bénédicte Fauvarque-Cosson.
The industry pays better
The establishment intends to launch a double course, in order to allow higher education students – disappointed by their choice – to reorient themselves towards an industrial sector. “ Redirecting students towards industry when they were misdirected in their first year is one of my struggles. We must get out of law schools all these students who ended up there out of spite », insists the manager who intends to lead this initiative in collaboration with different universities. To attract these students, the industry has an undeniable advantage: remuneration.
“It’s an often overlooked fact: working in industry means, on average, earning a better living than the rest of the private sector. The industry offers remuneration approximately 15% higher than other major sectors of the market economy,” write the co-authors of the industry barometer published by the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry (SEIN) and its partners. .
The very recent study by the Association for Executive Employment (Apec) on executive compensation confirms this trend. Industry is the sector where their remuneration increased the most in 2024. 72% of them experienced an increase in remuneration, compared to 60% in all sectors combined, highlights this study. “ Industry is also fertile ground for social advancement », with its continuing training courses and intra- and intersectoral mobility, estimates the SEIN. A speech that is starting to take hold? According to Opco 2i, between 2020 and 2023, the number of apprentices jumped by 35%, from 107,000 to 145,000 students, in the 29 branches of the industry. At the start of the 2023 school year, 1.3 million students were enrolled in initial training related to industrial professions according to the IGF.
