Digital Employment: “Far from the Job Apocalypse We Were Promised”

The annual Workforce Needs survey published in April 2026 by France Travail records a 12.5% drop in hiring intentions in the information and communication sector (software publishers, IT service providers, telecoms, IT consulting, audiovisual, media), marking one of the most significant declines among business services. This is in stark contrast to the recovery projections made by industry players. Véronique Torner, president of Numeum, the leading digital professional union in France representing 2,500 companies, analyzes this paradox and shares her views on the ongoing transformations.

The France Travail survey shows a sharp decline in recruitment intentions in IT, while Numeum anticipates a sector growth of 4.3% this year. How do you explain this paradox?

2024 and 2025 were contrasting years for the digital sector, with a noticeable slowdown starting mid-2024. To give you an idea, in 2025, the ESNs in the industry sector saw a decline of over 3%. This undoubtedly impacted recruitments.

The decline in recruitments during this period, as measured by the France Travail survey, is primarily due to the economic climate and a lack of business.

However, it’s important to put this decline in perspective: in terms of jobs, we lost in 2024 what we had gained in 2023. It’s a slight correction rather than a collapse of recruitments, especially after a decade of very strong growth and numerous job creations.

Our latest semi-annual survey published in December 2025 reveals improving indicators that suggest an acceleration of growth in 2026, but in a general climate marked by instability and uncertainty.

Is this mainly a cyclical adjustment after several years of massive hiring, or rather a sign of a more enduring transformation of the digital job market?

It is essential to distinguish between the cyclical adjustment we are experiencing, especially after the post-Covid years of particularly strong growth, and the transformation of jobs in the digital sector that is currently underway.

Jobs are evolving, but the job market remains robust.

Recruitment is declining in certain historical professions, such as support or development, while cybersecurity, data, and artificial intelligence remain highly sought after. Are we witnessing a lasting reshaping of the profiles demanded by companies?

I would talk more about evolution rather than reshaping. With the emergence of artificial intelligence, the skills needed by companies are changing as tasks evolve. Certain tasks that can be automated, such as testing activities, will gradually focus jobs on higher value-added tasks.

In this context, it will be necessary to rethink training and career progression paths in our companies, primarily for juniors: companies will increasingly demand more expert profiles.

We must collectively manage this transition responsibly for the generation entering the job market.

Numeum mentions productivity gains of around 17% due to generative AI in software companies. What concrete impact might this have on recruitment volumes and the profiles sought in 2026?

Recently, there has been much talk that AI would destroy digital jobs. Great care should be taken with this type of assertion, sometimes raised in the United States to justify job cuts, but which does not reflect our reality. OPIEEC, the observatory of the Syntec branch, revealed in a 2025 study that 49% of companies in the Syntec branch created jobs or increased their workforce in certain professions thanks to AI, and that 45,000 jobs should be created in the branch thanks to AI within 3 years.

Yes, the profiles sought will evolve with artificial intelligence. Yes, there is a transformation of professions that is underway, but it is still too early to be definitive about the recruitment volumes to come with AI.

Moreover, this technology is bringing forth new possibilities that create new opportunities. For now, we are far from the “job apocalypse” that has been predicted! And the results of major ESNs in the first quarter are encouraging. The impact of AI is positive on their growth.

Technical roles in decline have long served as entry points for junior profiles and those transitioning careers. How can they still find their place in today’s job market, according to you?

The need for digital skills remains significant, especially for engineering profiles (master’s degree), but it is important to emphasize that employability also depends on the fit between training and company expectations, as well as the ability to adapt to technological evolutions (AI, cloud, cybersecurity).

For lower levels, the challenge is to strengthen skill-building paths through apprenticeships and professional certifications.

Beyond that, industry-specific skills are also highly sought after: a person transitioning careers brings their industry experience, which is highly valued by recruiters.

The advent of agentive AI is also to be anticipated: it will likely require more technical skills than the first generation of AI.

Technical skills, especially in IT system architecture, will remain central. It is essential that training institutions engage in close dialogue with professional sectors to identify skills evolutions early and adjust the content of training accordingly. This applies to both initial and continuing education.

What professions, skills, or expertise remain most sought after by digital companies in 2026?

What is sought in AI is interdisciplinarity: young people must invest not only in coding but also in fundamentals (mathematics, physics, linear algebra, probabilities, statistics), as these are valuable skills that will not disappear. That’s why we must collectively act to strengthen scientific skills for future generations.

The challenge in the coming years will be to support the entire economic fabric of our country in embracing the wave of AI: we will need skills to transform our companies, notably in project management, change management, understanding of target systems, etc. Skills in cybersecurity also remain highly sought after, even in the age of AI.

Beyond scientific skills, soft skills should not be overlooked, as they become an essential component of the profession: ethics, curiosity, and creativity, the ability to identify the right problems, the ability to question and not accept an answer without re-examining it, etc. These are skills that AI will never replace.

Finally, as our industry becomes increasingly regulated by numerous European texts adopted in recent years, legal skills, or at least knowledge of the regulatory corpus, are also an asset.

In this context, what do you expect from public authorities, schools, or the training system to better meet the needs of the sector?

To best meet the needs of the sector, several issues must be addressed simultaneously.

The attractiveness of digital professions

First, we must work on the attractiveness of digital professions, and this should start as early as possible. This is the whole purpose of Numeum’s commitment with Digital Talents. In addition to strengthening the teaching of scientific subjects, we advocate for the implementation of real computer science education starting in middle school. Establishing such education would introduce young people to the various digital professions and reach the largest number possible.

The feminization of digital professions

Another project is the feminization of digital professions. This is an issue on which we have been making slow progress for many years, and we need to act from an early age. The “Tech for All” initiative launched by the government, in which Numeum is involved, aims to address this issue with young girls.

The preservation of apprenticeships and learning

Beyond that, apprenticeships and learning must be preserved: these schemes have proven their worth and continue to be a major access route to our professions.

On all these projects, close dialogue is essential between industry players, the Ministry of National Education, and the Ministry of Higher Education. It is crucial to ensure that our young people have the knowledge and skills our companies need to recruit.

Specifically, if you had to give advice to a future professional looking to enter the digital field today, what would you say?

If I were speaking directly to a group of young graduates, future professionals, I would tell them: do not fear AI, fully embrace this revolution. Digital technology is at the heart of all challenges: it is more than ever a sector of the future!

Advice from Véronique Torner (Numeum):

« Be curious, do not neglect scientific skills, and develop a critical mind about uses. Multiply practical experiences (projects, internships, challenges) and familiarize yourself with cross-cutting issues (biases, GDPR, environmental impact), as companies are looking for profiles capable of contextualizing AI in real environments, and especially of being able to explain the results of a tool to various business interlocutors. »

Véronique Torner

President, Numeum

In a period of accelerating technological changes, developing digital skills remains a critical issue and a condition for our collective success in terms of competitiveness, resilience, and responsibility.