The prudence of employers; 12th Edition of the EDHEC Employment Barometer - October 2012

Unsurprisingly, the prudence of employers noted in the previous two editions of the barometer is again on display this fall.

Only 64 percent of the companies surveyed, a drop of two percentage points, intend to hire recent master’s graduates in the next three months. It is the second-lowest percentage since the launch of this barometer in January 2009.

There are also more companies planning to reduce hiring: 20 percent will do less hiring, as opposed to 15 percent last May. Those that did in fact hire are less likely to go on hiring at the end of the year than they were in the previous edition—80 percent versus 86 percent.

As in May 2012, 83 percent plan to hire in France and 18 percent in Europe, but they are more prudent about Asia, which falls from 11 to 6 percent and about the Americas, which fall from 8 to 4 percent. Marketing, sales, purchasing, and auditing are holding out slightly better than corporate finance, banking specialties, and legal positions.

To conclude, two indicators should leave us optimistic:

For one, the last three months were more dynamic than expected, since 7 out of 10 companies hired, whereas only 66 percent had stated that they intended to hire in the previous edition. In their intentions, companies are very prudent as a result of forecasts for weak growth in the euro zone and uncertainty about corporate taxation in France, even though the reality may ultimately turn out to be more favourable.

For another, 94 percent of companies are going to maintain their ties to higher education in France, a sign that they want to be ready when the labour market takes off again.