{"id":33119,"date":"2026-06-30T19:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lesrencontreseconomiques.fr\/debats-idees\/reindustrialization-the-biggest-challenge-is-first-and-foremost-cultural\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T19:18:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:18:50","slug":"reindustrialization-the-biggest-challenge-is-first-and-foremost-cultural","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.lesrencontreseconomiques.fr\/en\/debats-idees\/reindustrialization-the-biggest-challenge-is-first-and-foremost-cultural\/","title":{"rendered":"Reindustrialization: The Biggest Challenge Is First and Foremost Cultural"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At The Rencontres \u00c9conomiquesi d&#8217;Aix-en-Provence, Beno\u00eet Derigny, President of ManpowerGroup France, will participate in Session 8, \u201cFrom First-Time Entrants to Seniors: A Slowing Labour Market,\u201d on July 2 at 4:00 p.m., and in Agora 5, \u201cFostering Young People\u2019s Fulfilment at Work,\u201d on July 4 at 10:00 a.m. In this opinion piece, he argues that the key challenge of France\u2019s reindustrialization goes beyond investment and skills: it is about restoring people\u2019s desire to build their careers in industry. <\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-blue-reaix-color has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-870a654a6244ce00d0dc41d318b4baee\">Changing the Way Industry Is Perceived<\/h2>\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although France&#8217;s reindustrialization is now at the heart of public debate, discussions tend to focus on investment, strategic sectors and the skills that need to be developed. Yet, on the ground, another reality is becoming increasingly clear: our biggest obstacle is not so much training talent as convincing people to stay in industry. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a time when traditional reference points around work, value and purpose are becoming blurred, industry is paying a heavier price than many other sectors for its lack of attractiveness and poor public perception.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The observation is straightforward and widely shared by the industrial companies we support: technical and skilled manual professions are suffering from a profound loss of appeal.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This challenge can largely be explained by the fact that, outside manufacturing sites, very few people truly understand what these jobs involve. Ask yourself: who can accurately describe the day-to-day work of a maintenance technician, an electromechanical technician or a welder? This lack of understanding is compounded by broader mistrust of the industrial world. The figures speak for themselves: according to IFOP, only 8% of French people would unreservedly recommend a career in industry.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The wall we face is primarily cultural. Industry continues to suffer from a social image that discourages many people. It remains associated with outdated perceptions of physically demanding work, limited recognition and uncertainty. That is the heart of the issue. What we are witnessing is not simply a shortage of skills, but a growing reluctance to identify with what industrial careers represent socially.  <\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-blue-reaix-color has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-e700e163e940d37222997771fc1cc0cd\">Why Skills Alone Are No Longer Enough to Attract Talent<\/h2>\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This trend is reflected in what we observe at ManpowerGroup: what we call &#8220;the great evaporation.&#8221; According to France&#8217;s Ministry of Labour (DARES), the number of unfilled industrial jobs tripled between 2017 and 2022, reaching around 60,000 vacancies.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The paradox is striking. Every year, around 125,000 young people are trained in technical professions. Yet more than half of them will never work in the occupation they trained for. Instead, they move into services, logistics, retail or ride-hailing platforms. The skills have been developed, but the motivation has disappeared. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This paradox directly undermines the competitiveness of our businesses at a time when industrial sovereignty has become more strategic than ever.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond the numbers, what strikes me most is the widening gap between the reality of industrial professions and the outdated image they continue to project.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The challenge is therefore no longer simply to train more people. It is to reconcile perception, working conditions and long-term career prospects.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-blue-reaix-color has-text-color has-link-color has-large-font-size wp-elements-71879f47cffb9751bcde6749017554cf\">Restoring the Appeal of Industrial Careers Is a Competitiveness Imperative<\/h2>\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This requires several changes.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, we must tell a more accurate story about today&#8217;s industry: innovative, technology-driven and central to the major economic and environmental transitions. Second, we must continue improving working environments, from working conditions and safety to career development opportunities, in order to meet the legitimate expectations of younger generations. Finally, we need to create visible, progressive and attractive career paths that enable people to see a future for themselves in the sector. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Businesses have a decisive role to play. The battle for reindustrialization will not be won through investment plans alone, but through our collective ability to restore the attractiveness of industrial professions. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is, of course, a collective challenge. But it is also, very concretely, an issue of economic attractiveness and business performance. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we fail, our industrial ambitions risk colliding with an invisible but very real barrier: the way society continues to perceive these professions.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Successfully reindustrializing France also means restoring people&#8217;s desire to join industry. It means restoring meaning. Ultimately, it means restoring the place these professions deserve in our collective imagination.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33118,"template":"","cat-theme":[68],"cat-axe":[],"class_list":["post-33119","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cat-theme-social"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reindustrialization: The Biggest Challenge Is First and Foremost Cultural - Les Rencontres \u00c9conomiques<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At The Rencontres \u00c9conomiques d\u2019Aix, Beno\u00eet Derigny explains why France\u2019s biggest reindustrialization challenge is cultural, not just economic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lesrencontreseconomiques.fr\/en\/debats-idees\/reindustrialization-the-biggest-challenge-is-first-and-foremost-cultural\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At The Rencontres \u00c9conomiques d\u2019Aix, Beno\u00eet Derigny explains why France\u2019s biggest reindustrialization challenge is cultural, not just economic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lesrencontreseconomiques.fr\/en\/debats-idees\/reindustrialization-the-biggest-challenge-is-first-and-foremost-cultural\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Les Rencontres \u00c9conomiques\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Le.Cercle.des.Economistes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T17:18:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lesrencontreseconomiques.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Visuels-site-web-2026-06-30T190551.078.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1476\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"830\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Cercle_eco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lesrencontreseconomiques.fr\\\/en\\\/debats-idees\\\/reindustrialization-the-biggest-challenge-is-first-and-foremost-cultural\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lesrencontreseconomiques.fr\\\/en\\\/debats-idees\\\/reindustrialization-the-biggest-challenge-is-first-and-foremost-cultural\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reindustrialization: The Biggest Challenge Is First and Foremost Cultural - 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