Insolvencies had decreased thanks to the measures decided during Covid, such as the rescheduling of bank loans, partial unemployment, PGE which must now be repaid. The end of this aid and the difficult economic context are leading to an increase in the number of failures.
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A company is in default when legal recovery proceedings are initiated against it, generally when the company can no longer meet its debts. The latest figures published by the Banque de France show a continued recovery. These failures had fallen to historically low levels in 2020 and 2021. But since 2022 and the end of the aid that the State had put in place to support businesses during confinement, failures have been increasing continuously and the month of May confirms this. tendency.
Compared to May 2023, there is an increase of 28%, bringing the total number of failures over one year to around 60,200. This is the concrete translation of the exit from “whatever it takes”. Companies, which had regained some cash flow, are once again weakened. Many of them were able to benefit from PGE (state-guaranteed loans granted during the pandemic), and are now struggling to repay them. After being kept at arm’s length by public money, companies are once again faced with a difficult economic environment. Even though the rise in the price of energy and raw materials has calmed down, consumption is at half-mast, interest rates are still high and the tense international geopolitical situation is not helping matters.
Excluding multinationals, all types of companies are affected but in varying proportions: increase of 46% over one year for ETIs (mid-sized companies), +25% for SMEs, +23% for microenterprises. As for the sectors most affected, the strongest increase comes from real estate activity, including agencies (+43% in insolvencies in May over one year), ahead of transport. On the other hand, progress is weaker in agriculture and fishing.
The resulting consequences on employment are significant. It is estimated that 240,000 to 250,000 jobs are threatened by business failures in 2024. By comparison, 200,000 jobs are what the French economy is supposed to create, per year, until 2027, to reach the objective of full employment set by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron.
