Employment-seekers job selection criteria in France

Job choice criteria vary by job status

Respondents in the FamEmp (Families-Employers) survey, whether working, seeking employment, or not seeking, or not seeking employment, were asked to identify the two criteria most important to them in choosing a job. Responses from working persons, men and women, were fairly similar (Fiche 35), whereas responses from non-retired persons aged 20-59 varied greatly by job or activity status (Fig. 1).

Wages or pay was the criterion most frequently cited by working people (57% of them did so), students regardless of age (52%), or the unemployed (43%). Working people’s second criterion varied, but none was as strong as pay and no single second criterion stood out. 25% said it was important that the job correspond to their tastes and values; 23% that the job be located close to their place of residence; 20% cited work atmosphere; 18%, working or remote working conditions; and 16%, convenient work schedules. Those least cited by these categories were career prospects and job security (8-9%). Students (and young people in general) rank their two criteria similarly to working people while more often indicating the importance of the job corresponding to their tastes and values (32%), work atmosphere (24%) and, first and foremost, career prospects (17%).

Unemployed or economically inactive persons are clearly distinct from students and working persons. Their second criterion for unemployed people, after wage, is closeness to home (36%). They are also the category who most value job security (11%), together with other non-working people (10%), who, for their part, are overrepresented among people without any job choice criteria (25%). Last, the answers of the economically inactive or persons on parental leave contrast with all the others: this group’s first criterion is closeness to home (41%), followed by convenient working schedule (38%).

Criteria also differ by socio-occupational category 

Responses also differ by either present or, for unemployed people, past socio-occupational category (retirees and students were not included) (Fig. 2). Skilled non-specialized manual workers most often cite pay (63%), followed by intermediate occupations (59%), managers (57%), skilled office workers (55%) and self-employed (53%). But though pay is the selection most often cited by relatively low-skilled workers, manual workers and above all office workers mention it slightly less frequently (52% and 46%), valuing instead and more than others, proximity to place of residence (the case for 33% of low-skilled blue-collar workers and 31% of low-skilled office or white-collar workers), comfortable working hours (respectively 21% and 24%), and job security (13%). Meanwhile, those three criteria are proportionately cited much less by people in other occupational categories; for example, 50% less often by managers. Managers more than any other category attach greater value to a job that dovetailes with their tastes and values (39%), while the criteria of work and remote working conditions is cited by 26% and career prospects by 14%.

These findings reflect not so much reflect distinct “tastes” for different aspects of working as the constraints people are under by their personal situation and the different opportunities available to them by skill level. People who stay at home (94% of whom are women) have family responsibilities that limit their potential working hours. Managers, meanwhile, can partially disregard the question of geographical distance, especially now with remote working. Relatively unskilled workers give priority to jobs accessible to them not so much in terms of pay—many are on minimum wage—but work schedule (which can be more or less atypical) and closeness to home.