Seasonal: the galley of 400,000 workers in the face of the housing shortage

Finding accommodation is an additional brake on employment. In its latest report, the Court of Auditors alerts the shortage of housing for seasonal workers, penalizing key sectors of the French economy such as tourism and agriculture.

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Summer is the conducive period to have its first experiences. Among these, find your first job Figure on the list. Each year, many seasonal contracts are to be filled. The Court of Auditors even believes that there are a million and a half of seasonal workershalf of which is used in the tourism sector, the other in that of agriculture. Crucial sectors to run the economy.

Financial jurisdiction recalls that in 2023 tourism weighed for 8 % of GDP, with 63.5 billion euros of revenues generated by international visitors. Viticulture, another pillar of the economy, alone represented 16 % of agricultural production, or 15 billion euros. And it’s not just the permanent posts that turn the machine. “”These strategic economic sectors cannot develop without seasonal workers», Point the magistrates in A July 4 report.

400,000 seasonal workers in search of housing

However, there is a major brake, that of accommodation (or rather non-housing). The authority responsible for the good use of public money raises a major problem: “Financial jurisdictions believe in 400,000 the number of seasonal workers who need accommodation near their workplace. Without accommodation on site, their recruitment is made more difficult ”, mentions the report. The question of accommodation for seasonal workers would therefore concern “at least” about 25 % of them.

Although the volume of accommodation offered is increasing compared to 2023, the location of certain accommodation structures is not in line with workplaces, especially far from the coast. This brake on recruitment “constitutes a major handicap for the development of tourism or agricultural activities». But who is responsible? The problem is multifactorial: insufficient offer in the face of ever higher demand, tension on the real estate market in tourist areasemployer and local authorities who refer responsibility…. Even if the supervisory authority stresses that employers are increasingly aware of their responsibility, and that certain groups, as in ski resorts, amusement parks or hotels, have already taken initiatives.

Solutions to overcome the shortage of seasonal accommodation

There Court of Auditors Underlines that the evolution of seasonality – with shorter winters, summer rings and reinforced off -season – also modifies the accommodation needs of seasonal workers as well as their working conditions … Among these proposals, the need to structure a global policy, carried out jointly by the State and the communities, and no longer only on the inter -municipal scale. If the solutions “Viable” often emerge from local initiatives, they should be set up at the highest level “to ensure the consistency of devices and funding».

The financial jurisdiction also recommends that the municipalities have, by 2026, a specific budget line to better identify, follow and pilot the expenses devoted to the accommodation of seasonal workers. In the field, the organization notably proposes to reactivate in 2025 a federated network of seasonal houses. As a reminder, these structures exist in certain territories to support these workers.