The number of employees in the French banking sector fell by 1.7% in 2020, a year marked by the onset of the health crisis. With 354,000 employees, the workforce is at its lowest level since 1990, according to figures from the French Banking Federation.
Headcount at its lowest level since 1990
By 2000, employment in the banking sector had already slowed considerably. At that time, the sector employed 354,600 people, compared with 354,000 today - the lowest level since these statistics began in 1990.
Taking into account only the major commercial banks, such as Société Générale and BNP Paribas in particular, the trend is even clearer: while the total number of employees fell by 1.7% in 2020, the decline here is 2.9%, for a current number of 186,800 employees excluding the staff of mutual banks.
For Maya Atig, General Manager of the French Banking Federation, the banking sector remains "one of the leading private sector employers in France", as she declared on June 22 in Le Grand Journal de l'Eco, on BFM Business. " There was less recruitment throughout the first half of 2020, because the machine was a bit stuck in terms of recruitment, hiring and mobility", she acknowledged.
Fewer new hires and fewer departures
While the number of new hires has fallen due to the uncertain economic situation, the number of departures has also declined.
In 2020, the hiring rate fell by 20.49%, with 35,300 new jobs compared to 44,400 in 2019. At the same time, 40,600 banking sector employees left their jobs, compared with 47,300 in 2019. The number of departures fell by 14.3% - a significant drop, but insufficient to offset the decline in hiring.
"There were slightly fewer departures than expected, in particular fewer resignations, which are the main cause of departures from the banking sector, ahead of retirements," confirmed Maya Atig.
The low interest rate environment is not without consequences for banking employment, as is the acceleration of digitalization in the current health context. Natixis, Société Générale and HSBC France have already been implementing restructuring plans for several months.
25,000 jobs have been lost since 2012, and several unions fear that a further 5,000 will be lost by 2025. Another consequence of digitalization and the rise of remote services is that banks are reducing their branch networks, which has an impact on employment. For example, the merger of the Crédit du Nord and Société Générale networks will result in the permanent closure of 600 branches.
Banking employment relatively stable in France
If we compare the French situation with that of a good number of European countries, we can see that banking employment in France has remained relatively stable.
In Germany, 78,500 jobs were lost between the end of 2010 and the end of 2019, with the total number of employees falling from 657,100 to 578,596 in 9 years. In Spain, 90,268 jobs were lost over the same period, and the banking sector now has just 173,447 employees.
In Italy, 38,730 jobs have been shed in 9 years, and this figure rises to 61,000 in the Netherlands, representing almost 1 in 2 jobs in Dutch banks.
Rather than referring to the erosion of banking employment, the CEO of the French Banking Federation prefers to speak of a "controlled decline in jobs", "because basically, a certain number of phenomena are foreseeable - digitalization, the fact that jobs are changing, these are things that banks see and for which they support their employees", she explained, estimating that the number of jobs is set to fall further, to 300,000 within the next 10 to 15 years.