This article uses a survey conducted in 2019 among companies in the manufacturing sector on recruitment difficulties they may encounter. By linking this information with the companies’ income statements, we show that the companies facing these difficulties are, on average and with all other things being equal, more productive than others. This finding indicates a potential misallocation of production factors, which are not seen as a priority by the most efficient companies. A very simplified estimation suggests that these inefficiencies could reduce average productivity in the manufacturing industry by around 0.10% to 0.15%, which is low. The survey also enables us to analyze the causes of these difficulties. In addition to the problems of matching supply and demand in terms of skill levels in the labour force, the wages offered and the competition with other companies also appear to be key factors behind recruitment problems.

Citation: Bergeaud, A., Cette, G. & Stary, J. (2022). Recruitment Difficulties and Firms’ Characteristics: An Analysis of French Company Data. Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, 534-35, 43–59.
doi: 10.24187/ecostat.2022.534.2078