Of the 23,000 town hall secretaries, 94% are women. The profession faces great recruitment difficulties in small towns.
The National Assembly adopted, on Tuesday, November 14, at first reading a bill aimed at upgrading the profession of town hall secretary, a profession facing great recruitment difficulties in small French municipalities. The 23,000 town hall secretaries, 94% women, are “the beating heart of our rural communities”, praised the Minister of the Civil Service Stanislas Guerini. But the “challenges” are numerous for this versatile local profession, in support of the mayors of municipalities with less than 3,500 inhabitants.
“A third of town hall secretaries will retire within eight years” who come, he noted, and the profession is faced with recruitment difficulties, a lack of recognition and visibility. No fewer than 2,000 town hall secretary positions are currently vacant. Between 8,000 and 13,000 positions will need to be renewed by 2030, since 60% of the 23,000 town hall secretaries in office were over 50 years old in 2022.
“A minimum category B profession”
The text was adopted unanimously by the 150 voting deputies, even if several groups called for going further on the advancement, remuneration or training of these civil servants. Deputies and senators will now have to try to agree in a joint committee on a final version of the text, adopted in the Senate in June.
Senator Renaissance François Patriat initiated this bill, which intends to promote the internal promotion of town hall secretaries, who today are 60.4% category C civil servants, 23.1% category B and only 16.5 % category A. In the Assembly, the government adopted an amendment to make it “a minimum category B profession”a measure also proposed by deputies from the majority and the opposition.