Is French reindustrialization in trouble? The dossier is on top of the priority pile of Emmanuel Macron’s priorities since the start of his mandate. Proof of this is the barometer published by Bercy in March 2024 to count the number of factories in the country. At the time, the former Minister of Industry, Roland Lescure, was pleased to report a 14% increase in the number of factories between 2022 and 2023. Eight months later, his successor is less optimistic. “There will probably be announcements of site closures in the coming weeks and months”.said Marc Ferracci speaking to France Inter Saturday, November 9. Social report “will be counted in thousands of jobs”.according to the Minister, who anticipated difficulties in “the automotive, chemical and metallurgy sectors.

Europe’s automotive industry falters in the face of Asia

On November 5, Michelin announced the closure of its Cholet and Vannes (Morbihan) sites, which employ a total of 1,254 people, before 2026. “Employees are understandably upset and angry, because the way the announcement was made (…) was not a dignified way of dealing with the situation.said Marc Ferracci. The employees were notified very late, Michelin’s management didn’t come to them to make the announcement live, eye-to-eye (…) it’s regrettable.”

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European automotive suppliers sounded the alarm this week in the face of unprecedented job losses in the sector. 32,000 job cuts have been announced in Europe for the first half of 2024, more than during the Covid pandemic, in this sector which employs 1.7 million people in Europe. The automotive industry, which is losing competitiveness in relation to Asia and the United States, has been hit by declining sales on the continent, low-cost Chinese competition and the slow pace of electrification.

Cutbacks in aeronautics and chemicals

In aeronautics, the defence and space branch ofAirbuswhich manufactures satellites and has 35,000 employees, is set to cut 2,500 jobs by 2026. Marc Ferracci has indicated that he will ensure that there are no redundancies, as employees will be redeployed in other Airbus entities.

The French chemical industry, particularly sensitive to energy and electricity costs, announced in mid-October that it feared it would lose “15,000 jobs in three years out of 200,000, i.e. 8%. A thousand job cuts have already been made in recent months at Solvay, Syensqo and Weylchem Lamotte, in addition to the 670 planned by petrochemical group ExxonMobil at Port-Jérome in Normandy. In the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the bankruptcy of Vencorex, on the Pont-de-Claix chemical platform (Isère), has put the spotlight on the company. “nearly 5,000 jobs at stake”. in other industrial sectors supplied by the group, estimates the CGT. Here too, the downturn is perceptible throughout Europe. Germany’s chemical industry, the world’s largest, is paying the price for the loss of cheap Russian gas. Unilever, Evonik and BASF have also announced job cuts.