Construction, agriculture, home help... The new list of professions in demand presented by the government

Construction, agriculture, home help, catering... The government sent social partners on Friday a list of several dozen professions in shortage in mainland France, a reference basis for the authorities to grant or not residence permits, and of which AFP obtained a copy.

The latest version was established in 2021 based on 2008 data. Several dozen different professions are counted in 2025.

"We worked with the Ministry of the Interior, with the regions, the social partners to have a list of jobs in tension by major region," specified the Minister of Labor, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, on franceinfo on Friday morning.

This list was sent to the social partners, before "a final national consultation", she continued.

Trade unions and employers' organisations will debate this new list next week, before publication in the Official Journal, according to concordant sources.

This list of professions in demand, resulting from "consultations with the various professional federations by region" shows that the professions concerned "can also be different depending on the regions and departments", according to Ms Panosyan-Bouvet.

Thus, only the Normandy region is looking for surveyors, while seven regions (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Paca, Occitanie, Grand Est, Corsica, Centre-Val de Loire and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) out of thirteen are looking for butchers.

"Salaried farmers", "home helps and housekeepers", "kitchen assistants", "cooks", "domestic and cleaning staff", "salaried market gardeners/horticulturists", as well as employees in the hotel and construction sectors are sought throughout the country.

The three regions with the most professions in shortage are Ile-de-France (41 professions), Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur (39) and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (37 professions).

The latest immigration law, promulgated in January 2024, provided that undocumented workers working in high-demand occupations could apply for regularization from the prefect.

In January 2025, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau sent a new circular to prefects, providing in particular that exceptional regularizations through work would now be refocused on professions in shortage.

The main professional organisation in the hotel and catering industry, Umih, then recalled the sector's difficulties in recruiting.

She had thus "hoped that the new circular would not tighten the conditions of regularization and access to employment for foreign nationals already present on our soil and wishing to work in (these) professions".