The unemployment statistics for the 2nd quarter of 2024 were published on July 25 by France Travail. They indicate a very high level of job shortages. An average of 173,780 Reunioneses were registered during this period, all looking for a job. The number of workers completely unemployed was on average 114,740.
These numbers have been stagnating around these values ​​for over 10 years: around 120,000 workers completely unemployed, and around 180,000 registered with the former Pôle emploi, which became France Travail. These very high figures date from the time when the major projects launched by the Réunion Region, then chaired by Paul Vergès, were stopped: tram-train, new coastal road in particular. Elsewhere, the Pôle océan and Zéniths projects from Le Port and Saint-Denis were stopped.

The unfinished offshore road project has swallowed up investments

Instead of the projects of the Réunion Region, a new agreement between the Region led by Didier Robert and France by Nicolas Sarkozy has planned an offshore road project. 14 years after the signing of this agreement, all the planned credits have only allowed for the construction of half an offshore road stopping at Grande Chaloupe and a bridge connected to nowhere on the seafront of La Possession. To make up for this setback, the State and the Region have concluded a new agreement providing for an extension of more than 800 million euros to build the other half of the offshore road.
The policy implemented in the Region between 2010 and 2022 has resulted in a halt in a dynamic. To meet needs, the Region previously built 2 high schools every 3 years. Between 2010 and 2022, the team in power has built only one high school. Most of the investment was swallowed up in a offshore road that is far from being completed. This decision weighed heavily on the economic situation of our island, it partly explains the rise in unemployment and the number of approximately 180,000 job seekers according to official statistics.

The construction industry calls on the State and local authorities for help

In recent months, construction industry leaders have expressed their concern about the low number of planned construction sites. They are urging the public authorities to release projects to provide work for their companies.
However, La Reunion Island needs a lot of housing, for example. 40,000 families are waiting for social housing. The population will continue to increase to stabilize at one million inhabitants.
Despite an annual GDP of more than 20 billion euros and an added value of more than 7 billion produced in La Reunion on average each year, the construction industry is turning not to the private sector but to the State and local authorities so that the taxpayer can keep this essential economic sector running.
This is an illustration of the impasse of the neocolonial model that dominates the economy of La Reunion Island.
The construction sector is therefore expecting a serious crisis. Is this a relative calm before the storm?

M.M.