France: Did hiring difficulties reduce employment and growth in 2018?

The slowdown in growth and therefore employment in 2018 in France has causes on the demand side : increase in oil prices and inflation, downturn in residential construction, slowdown in exports. But , on the supply side , companies ’ acute hiring difficulties normally also lead to a slowdown in employment and therefore growth ( here the causality runs from employment to growth and not the reverse). How should the negative effect of hiring difficulties on growth be evaluated ? We can look at: The trend in foreign trade (excluding energy); The role of imports in meeting demand; The correlation between demand and employment. We then have to admit that , for the time being, there is no sign that hiring difficulties have had a negative effe ct on growth.