Airbus plans to hire more than 13,000 people by 2023

Less than three years after announcing a plan to cut 15,000 jobs, Airbus is almost back to its pre-Covid crisis level, with some 130,000 permanent employees worldwide, including 81,000 at Airbus commercial aircraft and 49,000 in France. These figures should be exceeded later this year, with a new wave of hiring planned.

Benefiting from strong demand for aircraft, the aerospace and defense group has recruited twice as many employees as expected in 2022: more than 13,000 in total, instead of the 6,000 announced at the beginning of 2022. And according to Human Resources Director Thierry Baril, the 2023 vintage should be at the same level, with another 13,000 new hires planned for the entire group, more than two-thirds of them (about 9,000) in Airbus' main countries, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain.

A record year

2022 was a record year in terms of hiring," says Thierry Baril. The previous record was 11,000 hires in 2019. Of these 13,000 hires, 7,000 were new positions, and 6,000 were replacements for departures, which illustrates the group's increased level of activity, as well as its attractiveness," says the Airbus HR Director.

A quarter of the new hires are for profiles that are different from those of traditional aeronautics professions, such as digitalization, robotics and cybersecurity

The majority of recruitment needs concern the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which is engaged in a rapid increase in production rates. This will enable the company to gradually increase production rates from 60 A320 family medium-haul aircraft per month at the beginning of the year to 65 at the beginning of 2024, and up to 75 by 2025. "We are supporting the increase in production rate, especially for the A321 [Airbus' new bestseller], but we are also preparing for the future and for low-carbon aircraft. A quarter of our hires are for profiles that are different from those of traditional aeronautics professions, such as digitalization, robotics and cybersecurity," says Thierry Baril.

70% "white collar" positions

The list of the most sought-after profiles is long and concerns just about every advanced engineering specialty applicable to aircraft, from architectural design to propulsion, electronics and materials resistance. Nevertheless, of the 13,000 or so positions open last year and this year, 70 percent are for highly skilled engineers and other white-collar workers, compared with 30 percent for blue-collar workers.

Overall, Airbus says it has no trouble recruiting for its traditional aeronautics jobs. The aircraft manufacturer regularly comes out on top in the rankings of preferred companies for young engineering school graduates. But "high-tech" profiles are apparently harder to find. So much so that Airbus even had to create its own cybersecurity school in 2022. "The first class of 21 apprentices started last September and we will start selecting a second class of 23 students in February," announces the Airbus HR director.

A need to get younger

Another sought-after commodity is women, who represent only 20% of young engineering school graduates and 19% of Airbus' workforce in 2021. "In 2022, 27% of new recruits will be women," says Thierry Baril. But above all, Airbus is looking for young people. Because the group has no shortage of seniors. Despite the many early retirements in 2020, the group still had 28.7 percent of employees over 50 in 2021, compared with 9 percent under 30.

In this context, the group is probably not unhappy about the increase in the retirement age in France, where 35.4% of its workforce is concentrated.

Source : https://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/air-defense/airbus-prevoit-encore-plus-de-13000-recrutements-en-2023-1900947