2022 News that will Never Stop Adapting – The year 2021 has been rich in pessimistic forecasts. The news continues to focus on the health crisis. Yet businesses have constantly adapted in 2021 and will continue to ride out unforeseen waves. Focus on some essential information.

Optimistic Forecasts for 2022

According to a recently published INSEE study, many companies plan to recruit in 2022. Thus, job creation should reach 80,000 jobs in the first half of 2022. Therefore, the joblessness rate should continue to fall and get 7.7% in the first quarter. And drop to 7.6% in the second quarter of 2022. Job creations should, however, be less significant than in 2021.

In the second half of 2021, job creations rose to 153,000, boosted by lifting health restrictions last spring. Indeed, the French who had saved for many months had fun mechanically, resulting in recruitment. INSEE predicts at the end of June 2022 that salaried employment will even return to its pre-health crisis level.

2022 News that will Never Stop Adapting

Business Start-Ups on the Rise

Good news! Since 2021, INSEE has counted no less than 915,454 new companies in France. Therefore after a record year in 2020, this is confirmation that business creation is not affected by the health crisis. Company creations represent 27% of companies created, while sole proprietorships represent 8% of creations. The microentrepreneurs regime retains the lead with nearly two-thirds of the companies made. However, the month of November marks a slowdown since it is -3.5% after an increase of +6.7% the previous month with notable decreases in education, health, and social action (-4.8 %).

Sonic Increase of 0.9% in January

This January 1, the monthly Smic will increase to 1,603 euros gross for 35 hours per week after an increase of 2.2% in October following a price increase of more than 2% between November 2020 and August 2021. These successive increases intended to counterbalance inflation in November, which rose to 2.8% over one year. The gross hourly rate will therefore amount to 10.57 euros. This Increase will impact two million people in 2021, or around 12% of private-sector employees, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee).

French Households continue to Oversave

Since the health crisis, French households have tended to over save. At the end of October, the Increase in savings compared to 2020 reached 187 billion euros. This Increase, however, weakened

since it only represented 6 billion in the third quarter, whereas it was 22 billion in the previous quarter. It represented 114 billion at the end of 2020 for comparison. The effects of the health crisis are noticeable in particular through savings on Livret A savings accounts since between December 2019 and September 2021, and outstandings jumped by 51.5 billion euros, an increase of 18.6%. The level of savings should, according to INSEE, return to a “normal” rate of 16% of gross income in March 2022.

Unemployment Insurance, the Latest Applications

The latest measures of the unemployment insurance reform are in force on December 1, 2021. The unemployment insurance reform aims to encourage working more and promote more sustainable employment paths.

As of December 1, 2021:

  • The duration of activity necessary to open rights to unemployment insurance increases to 6 months (compared to 4 months previously);
  • for job seekers whose gross monthly salary was greater than approximately €4,500, a downward modulation of their allowance may occur at the end of the 6th month (instead of the 8th month as provided) by derogation from the 1st last July).

The implementation of the unemployment insurance reform takes place in a context of strong economic recovery, which reflects in a very favorable volume of hiring:

  • Growth estimated at more than 6% for the year 2021;
  • 2.2 million new hires in the second quarter: the level of employment in France exceeded its pre-crisis level;
  • A historical decrease of 270,000 job seekers without any activity between April and July;
  • An unemployment rate of 8%, a return to the pre-crisis level.

Note the two previous stages of the reform:

  • Since October 1, a new calculation of unemployment benefits based on the average wages received during a given period, and no longer on the days worked alone, has been used for all new job seekers;
  • Since July 1, a bonus-malus has applied to approximately 20,000 companies in the seven sectors that consume the most very short contracts (the first modulation of their contribution to unemployment insurance will take place in September 2022 based on the behaviour of hiring recorded over the period July 2021-June 2022).