Nearly 50,000 banking hires in 2022: a record year

In 2022, French banks saw a record year for hiring: 48,900 new hires, i.e. a 21% increase year on year. At end-2022, the sector had 349,100 employees (of which 181,900 in the AFB branch), accounting for nearly 1.7% of private-sector salaried employment in France. This hiring momentum was also reflected in the number of work-study participants, totalling 18,400 in 2022, of which 14,500 were new. This represents a sharp increase from the previous year.
The decline in the workforce (permanent and fixed-term contracts), averaging 1% over five years, decelerated significantly in 2022 (-0.4%). For the first time, the entire workforce combined (permanent, fixed-term and work-study contracts) increased, rising to 367,500 in 2022 from 366,800 in 2021.

A dynamic sector and permanent jobs

With 349,100 employees at end-2022 in banks that are members of the French Banking Federation (FBF), representing nearly 1.7% of private-sector salaried employment, the French banking sector is a major employer.

French banks hired 48,900 employees (vs. 40,300 in 2021 and 35,300 in 2020), of which 24,700 in the AFB branch (vs. 18,500 in 2021). Of these 24,700, 18,100 are permanent hires; more than 73% are on permanent contracts (vs. 65% in 2021), representing more than 98% of jobs in the sector.

Although turnover increased in 2022, at 10.2% for the sector it is more than two times lower than the national average (22.6%).

Highly skilled and diverse jobs for women throughout France

With women making up nearly 57% of its workforce, banking is a sector that promotes parity: women represent 49.5% of recruitments, of which one in two is hired at the managerial level; 49.7% of managers are women (+5.1 points since 2012); and women account for 59% of promotions.

It is also a sector where jobs are skilled (managers make up 70% of the workforce, +15 points since 2012) and that is open to people with different types of degrees. Permanent hires have anywhere from 4-5 years of higher education or more (57%) to 2-3 years of higher education (34%) to less than 2 years of higher education (9%).

Customer relations jobs account for nearly 54% (+1 point) of permanent hires. These jobs are located throughout France, as a local footprint is the hallmark of French banks and an important component of their relationship-based model. They outpace jobs in IT (13.4%), compliance and risk management (8.1%) and back office (6.2%).

A responsible and engaged sector

In 2022, French banks recruited 14,500 new work-study participants (vs. 13,300 in 2021), bringing the number of work-study participants at end-2022 to 18,400.

In the AFB branch alone, there are 9,900 work-study participants (of which 7,500 new contracts in 2022), as well as 6,400 young people working as interns and 750 young people participating in the Volontariat International à l’Etranger (international business internship) programme. In parallel, nearly one in two recruits is under the age of 30.

Partnerships (with APELS (French Agency for Education through Sport) and each One) play a role in integrating young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and skilled refugees into the workplace.

Banks’ policies on older workers, often as part of dedicated collective agreements, have helped to gradually increase the retirement age, which in 2022 was 62.3 years old (+1.4 points in eight years).

For Maya Atig, Chief Executive Officer of the AFB and the FBF: “In 2022, banks saw a record year for hiring, with nearly 50,000 new hires. They are also major players in training and integration. They dedicated 4.3% of their total payroll to training their employees, or nearly 4.5 million hours, and brought in 14,500 new work-study participants. These figures demonstrate the extent to which banks across the country are actively involved in integration and development”.