Masons, roofers, plumbers, engineers: in Eure-et-Loir, the construction industry is short of workers

The France Travail study on Labor Requirements (BMO) confirms this: "In the construction industry, I don't know a single company that isn't looking for staff," says Adrien Vergnaud, director of Vergnaud TP, a masonry company in Nogent-le-Rotrou (Eure-et-Loir), which is actively seeking two versatile employees to complete its workforce of 9 people.

According to France Travail, Eure-et-Loir, a department with large-scale crops, is recruiting several hundred seasonal workers in agriculture and market gardening. There is also a shortage of 250 nurses and midwives, as well as home care workers and personal care assistants (230 positions).

Worse still, in the public works sector, there's a shortage of people at every level: from laborers to engineers, including site managers, roofers, and plumbers. "Whether it's temporary or direct, we're unable to address this shortage ," notes Karine Moreau, regional director of the Artus temporary employment agencies. CFAs and vocational high schools are struggling to recruit students. "This then has repercussions for businesses," she adds.

In this study, France Travail calculates a shortage rate. For construction jobs, it is often higher than 80%. In comparison, logistics, which recruits several hundred people each year in this area near Paris, has a rate of less than 10%.

"We recruit temporary workers and young people without training. We try to keep those who have a sense of responsibility," says Adrien Vergnaud. An example is Julien Lucas, 23, who worked odd jobs, particularly in factories, before accepting a temporary assignment in the construction industry. "The atmosphere is family-like; we're supported in what we do," he says.

Adrien Vergnaud is expected to offer to hire him at the end of his temporary assignment, even though he doesn't have any qualifications in this field. He'll get certifications later, if he wishes. "Trained or not, the hardest part is finding people who don't mind putting in an extra hour on a construction site to avoid having to come back the next day," says the boss.

For SMEs, as for other businesses, this shortage imposes gymnastics with construction site schedules. "For now, I'm managing to meet deadlines. But that's because I'm the first to get in," says Adrien Vergnaud, who builds walls and lays foundations. "For the finishing trades—electricity, painting, partitions, plumbing—as soon as there's a grain of sand, everything is very quickly delayed," he assures.