In France, 19.1 million employees were covered by one of the 269 collective agreements applicable to more than 5,000 employees, as at 31 December 2023. For the fourth time this year, mind RH has retrieved data published by the research department of the French labour ministry (Dares) in order to compare these agreements on a number of indicators such as workforce size, pay, gender inequality and age pyramid. For greater relevance, we have grouped these sectors into 14 major sectors and excluded some of them, notably the non-profit and semi-public sectors. Our analysis covers 15.9 million employees covered by 225 collective agreements (see methodology). While employment continued to grow in 2023, the year was marked by the onset of an economic slowdown after the post-Covid period, when the balance of power in the labour market favoured employees. According to France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), unemployment stabilised at 7.3% that year, while job creation fell from 350,000 in 2022 to 158,000 the following year.
In 2023, collective agreements in the trade and distribution sectors covered 4.8 million employees, compared with 2.24 million in business services. The metalworking industry had 1.55 million employees with 64 different collective agreements in the last year, while the unified collective agreement came into force at the beginning of 2024. Although its workforce remains below 2019 levels, it is up from 2022 (less than 1.54 million) despite the crisis in the sector, caused in particular by difficulties in the automotive industry.
Datajournalisme, économie et numérique. J’enseigne aussi le journalisme de données à l’EDJ de Sciences Po Paris.
