With an increase of 1.1% in 2023, the pace of job creation in Occitanie has slowed down, reveals an INSEE study

Comme sur l'ensemble du territoire national, les créations d'emplois ralentissent en Occitanie, selon l'Insee. Midi Libre – MiKAEL ANISSET

The post-pandemic effect, during which the change in hiring exceeded 7% between 2019 and 2023, is running out of steam.

In a note published on Wednesday, INSEE notes a slowdown in job creation across the country. “Between the end of 2022 and the end of 2023, employment in France continues to increase, but at a more moderate pace than in the previous two years: +262,000 jobs in 2023, after +391,000 in 2022 and +977,000 in 2021”, specifies the institute. Paid employment thus increased by 172,000 in 2023, “almost half as much as in 2022”, a marked slowdown “which comes mainly from the commercial tertiary sector”. On the other hand, the note underlines, “non-salaried employment accelerates in 2023: +90,000, after +58,000 jobs”.

The increase in job creation last year remains well below that of 2022, a year in which 391,000 jobs were created. Above all, it is still well below that of 2021, during which economic activity generated 977,000 additional jobs. Which, assures INSEE, “was the largest annual increase in employment since INSEE began measuring it”, in 1954. Thus, between 2019 and 2023, the increase in jobs was 7.1%. This slowdown in employment is part of a context of decline in economic activity, with gross domestic product increasing by 0.9% in 2023, after +2.6% in 2022 and +6.9% in 2021″.

The region at the forefront of industrial employment

As for the national territory, “employment is increasing again in all regions but at a less sustained rate in most of them”. It is increasing “for the third consecutive year” in all regions, “however, much less markedly than in 2022, with the exception of Guyana, Normandy, Hauts-de-France and Brittany”. The most marked increases “concern French Guiana (+2.9%), Réunion (+1.8%), Brittany (+1.5%), Martinique (+1.4%) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (+1.3%)”.

With +1.1%, Occitanie is one of the regions where employment is growing at the rate of the national average. “In seven regions, employment growth is close to the national average (+0.9%): Occitanie, Île-de-France, Pays de la Loire, Guadeloupe, Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, Normandy and Nouvelle-Aquitaine”. With a bonus for industrial employment in Occitanie. “Industrial employment is increasing overall more in these seven regions than in the others; this is particularly the case in Occitanie, Guadeloupe and Île-de-France”, from + 1.9% to + 2.3% for industrial employment in these regions, compared to + 1.2% at the national level.