The tractors restart, the temporary camps disappear and traffic resumes. After the government announcements on agriculture on Thursday February 1, the demonstrators received orders from the FNSEA and the Young Farmers – the majority unions – to free the roads occupied for several days in France. The movement could have extended beyond the family of the operators. There was also talk of building craftsmen joining the cause to protest, too, against the excess of standards and administrative tasks. Like the agricultural sector, crafts today find themselves at a crossroads. “Despite the attraction of our professions, we suffer from a shortage of labor. It is even a social issue to ensure the transmission of the 300,000 craft businesses to be taken over within 10 years,” underlines Joël Fourny , president of the Chamber of Trades and Crafts in France (CMA France).
We are talking here about some 250 diverse trades, from plumber to furniture upholsterer, including tailor or tiler. From the 1970s, the sector experienced renewed energy, while its death was announced. “Supported by administrative elites, this idea that crafts would disappear in favor of industry spread. We finally realized that big business was not necessarily the panacea for creating jobs. More recently, in the context of globalization, professionals were able to play on the fact that they offered jobs that could not be relocated,” recalls historian Cédric Perrin. “Craftsmanship is very strong in sectors that are not very industrializable, it meets needs. In addition, since the end of the 20th century, public authorities have highlighted the notion of entrepreneur,” continues the author of Between glorification and abandonment. The State and artisans in France (1938-1970). The number of craft businesses is now growing and exceeds 1.5 million, compared to 800,000 in the 2000s. A boom “largely linked to the law on microentrepreneurs which inflates the statistics”, he specifies. .
Painful and useful
Today, craftsmanship has two faces. On the other hand, that of a difficult, solitary and often poorly paid job, with a lack of notoriety. “We don’t show enough of our range of professions, despite all the work we do on orientation and communication. We remain on the basis of professions that everyone knows like butcher, baker or cheese maker,” regrets Laurent Munerot, president of the National Confederation of Crafts, Trades and Services (Cnams). In a recent study carried out with OpinionWay, Tout faire, the first French network of independent construction materials traders, showed that if 70% of French people had a positive vision of craftsmanship in building, 69% of them considered these professions as painful. “We need to be aware of the fact that these are chosen professions and not endured professions,” says Cédric Fabien, president of Tout faire.
On the other hand, craftsmanship enjoys the image of a useful profession, promoting French know-how and in accordance with current transition issues. “We also find motivations which have always been those of the craftsman: no longer having a boss,” notes Cédric Perrin.
How to pass on know-how?
For these professions to continue, the transmission of know-how is fundamental. This is the mission that the Companions of Duty have set themselves for over 80 years. This association, which offers 36 professions, supports young people from CAP to master’s degrees in boilermaking, locksmithing or even carpentry, with a very specific spirit: “We have a rule: we come, we are given and once we has taken all the advice, it is up to us to pass it on”, explains Quentin Bournazel, trained mechanic and “provost” – trainer – of the Compagnons du Devoir house in Paris. This organization plays a major role in the persistence of invisible professions. “We attract a lot in the woodworking professions, but we have a lot more difficulty with those in roofing for image reasons,” illustrates Marc Jarousseau, regional delegate for Ile de France.
Thanks to apprenticeship, each young person has the opportunity to experience each profession in real conditions. This employment contract, which had lost its credentials, is today being pushed by the government. “Apprenticeship is in the DNA of craftsmanship. We have certainly revalued it, but this has benefited business schools and higher education. It would be better to promote professions in the local economy for young people who “do not have the means or the capacity to study directly”, judges Laurent Munerot of the Cnams.
At the Compagnons du Devoir, over the last ten years, the profiles of the candidates have changed. “While traditionally, it was more a question of workers who set out on their own account, we are now seeing new social categories arriving,” notes Cédric Perrin. For Quentin Bournazel, the fear of arduousness should no longer be a barrier. “These professions have a certain reputation, but technologies have evolved a lot. The stone cutter is no longer at all the same as 100 years ago,” he assures. Among the newcomers, many reconversions. An advantage in that a craftsman is above all a business manager. Order management, sales, accounting… “These people have a very good professional level and come to create a structure in a fairly short time. Some come from CAC 40 companies, they are not afraid to move. Changing careers is possible “, insists Marc Jarousseau.
Supporting reconversions
Retraining has, in fact, become a major breeding ground for the sector. After several years in publishing, Valéry Le Rol left his job in 2019, at the age of 48, to become a ceramist. After her training, in 2020 she joined the start-up Wecandoo which offers more than 6,000 workshops across France through its platform. The principle is simple, the young company is “an offer creator”: it offers artisans the opportunity to run training sessions with the public to highlight their know-how, for a commission. “We seek to educate and put these professions back at the heart of everyday life. Craftsmanship has somewhat disappeared due to its individualistic character,” says co-founder Edouard Eyglunent.
At the start of 2024, Wecandoo reached the milestone of 500,000 participants since its creation in 2017. Covid played an accelerator role. “We have real knowledge of the market. Our role is to involve professionals in an entrepreneurial approach,” he adds. Without Wecandoo, Valéry Le Rol assures that she would never have been able to get started. In the company’s premises in Paris, she has access to all the equipment necessary for the ceramist profession. Every week, she leads five workshops. “It’s a complete profession, you need technical knowledge obviously, but accounting background is also necessary. You have to be multitalented,” maintains the fifty-year-old between two pottery turnings. She now hopes to pass on her passion to novices. Wecandoo is already pleased with this: several participants in its workshops have decided to take the plunge into crafts by retraining. A small victory.
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