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The reverse trend was apparent in January. After seven months of withdrawals exceed deposits, and a record 3.8 billion euros in net outflows (deposits less withdrawals) in December, flows on life insurance contracts appear to be stabilizing. In February, the payments for the first time since last August were higher than withdrawals, according to figures released by the French Federation of Insurance Companies (FFSA) and the Group of mutual insurance companies (Gema).

The amount of deposits has been higher than 300 million euros to the withdrawals. A level far below the record numbers in July 2011 to 2.7 billion euros. Since this rise is not due to increased payments for savers on their contract. They have instead further decreased by 14% compared to January 2012. The trend reversal is in fact due to a sharp slowdown in redemptions, which fell 24% from the previous month. They still remain higher than 21% from their level in February 2011. In fact, Bernard Spitz, president of the FFSA, remains cautious, and denies seeing a continuing trend payday loans online.

Leaded by the crisis which encouraged investors to choose short-term investments, or to deleverage rather than investing, life insurance has lost ground to rival the booklet Who is disputing the preference of the French. The latter has also continued its growth with a collection of 1.93 billion euros in February. A total of 222.3 billion euros are now placed on the 60 million booklets A possessed the French. An amount that is still very far from those placed on life insurance contracts which reaches 1.377 billion euros in late February.

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Last February, 54,000 jobs were submitted under the Apec, an increase of 30% compared to February 2011 and 53% in total over twelve months. In total, emphasizes APEC in its monthly report released Wednesday, "which offers 587,747 are entrusted in one year."

It is the function of industrial production (work and site) that the fastest growth, both in one month (70% with 3791 offers) on a year (83% to 39 516 offers). "Demand is especially strong for managers of industrial production, since growth is 101% over the year," said Apec. This function represents 7% of all offers.

Other sector applicant, the technical services (10% of total offers) which grew by 59% over one month (5398 offers) and 81% in total over twelve months (54657 offers). Driving this growth is the pole Process and Methods (with 128% increase year over year and offers 11,000), followed by the Technical Services Branch (128% growth with 4264 offers).

Bid on two computer science or business-marketing

As for the IT functions and business-marketing, which together account for over half of all offers (54% overall), their growth remains strong: 41% increase over year for the computer (156 036 offers) and 47% for the sales-marketing (with 157,724 offers) quick payday loans. Over a month, however, its growth slows, however, both functions 3 to 4 points.

Another signal to be taken into account, the monthly index of diffusion of the Internet offers executives, not the mark a bit in February, with an increase of 30 points over last year to 299 points (32 points against the month above). The APEC underlines in this regard sluggish growth-management functions for finance directors and HR.

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More and more French people are struggling to pay their electricity bill and gas, warning the energy ombudsman's report 2011 released Tuesday. The independent administrative authority has seen its number of referrals by individuals increased by 14%. Admittedly, this increase is lower than in previous years. But the missing payments have soared by 80% and now represent 15% of all cases handled.

Refunds and consideration received from the Ombudsman have averaged 410 euros for consumers in trouble. If the French have trouble paying their energy bills, this is largely because of the crisis and the boom in energy prices, reports the Energy Ombudsman. The regulated gas prices jumped 25% in two years, those of electricity by 8%.  

Faced with the rise of this "fuel poverty", that is to say, the difficulty of paying their energy bills, the Energy Ombudsman has issued proposals. It notably calls for an extension of the winter break for unpaid breaks. So far, only consumers who have received assistance from the Solidarity Fund for housing can benefit from this protection. "Those who are not entitled to welfare benefits and are unable to pay their bill, the suspension of energy remains real, warns the Ombudsman. It's not right to deprive of light and heat during this period [winter], people of good faith who fail to pay their dues. "

Monopoly of social tariffs

Another proposal is to break the exclusivity of EDF, the incumbent supplier, in the distribution of the social tariff of electricity. "This is a problem for customers of alternative operators who can not access them, except to change supplier and return at EDF, the Ombudsman regrets. In a market open to competition, the monopoly has no purpose. "The Ombudsman welcomed however the automation of the development of social tariffs for the beneficiaries since January 1. So far, only 650,000 households benefited while 2 million are eligible. A million more people should have access through this improvement.

Finally, the Ombudsman would like to broaden the scope of its powers. In 2011, he was unable to grasp that 74% of the 17,973 claims received. For example, "with the continued development of photovoltaic systems in particular, the Ombudsman may also intervene in disputes relating to the connections and purchase contract," the report shows. Finally, the Ombudsman called to continue the education effort directed at consumers. Nearly five years after the liberalization of energy market, only 42% of French people know they can choose their supplier of electricity or gas.

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Despite a second half which was to fear the worst, business failures were flat last year compared to 2010 when they were increased by 20% between 2007 and 2009.

According to a study by Deloitte and Altars, 58,195 companies have experienced serious difficulties in 2011. A decrease of 1% compared to 2010. 18,518 were placed in receivership. 39,677 direct into liquidation.

These figures are significantly higher than pre-crisis, during the period 2000-2007. "The failure level is impressive," says Martine Rivet, magistrate from the Commercial Chamber of the Tribunal de Grande Instance, Strasbourg cited in the survey Deloitte-Altares.

Areas heavily affected are the retail, grocery stores and food processing. The building also continues to suffer. Companies that have the highest increase in defaults are those with less than six years of existence (31,813 procedures) and companies conducting more than 50 million euros in turnover. Geographically, most of the failures are concentrated in the Ile-de-France (20%) in Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur (11%) and in the Rhone-Alpes (10%). The momentum of the second half of 2011, 2012 promises to be difficult. In January and February, 10,889 companies were placed in receivership, liquidation or judicial safeguards against 10,294 in 2011 and 9724 in 2010 over the same period.

March, "the heaviest month"

Companies with more than 50 employees are the first victims with a 42% increase compared to January-February 2011. Mars will be a good barometer to know the trend of the year. "This is traditionally the heaviest month for the number of firms in difficulty," Thierry Millon analysis, design manager at Altares.

The crisis has sometimes served as a catalyst to speed falls predictable. Some companies in fact knew of the difficulties for several years, due to insufficient capital and a fall in profitability for a long time. Others could no longer compete with their competitors. "The competitiveness of the French economy needs to be asked," concludes Vincent Batlle, a partner at Deloitte.

In transport, many small companies have thrown in the towel, victims of declining sales, rising fuel prices and foreign competition. German companies have cut jobs in Alsace, where they had settled in the 1980s, to turn back to Germany. "These companies were looking for a cheaper production base and an opening on the French market. Today we are witnessing a counter-movement, "says Claude master-Maxime Weil, court administrator in Strasbourg. In Marseille, the commercial court only deals with records of small businesses because the industrial base has weakened.

The coming months could be very difficult for LBOs (leveraged buy-out) purchased with funds that are struggling to repay their debts.

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Gerard Larcher could have done without the public release, two weeks ago, Francois Fillon, who suggested to redirect some 31 billion spent annually on training unemployed only.

"I lie to you if I told you that I have not complicated the task," says the former chairman of the Senate to which the Prime Minister has given two months in late January to lay the groundwork for a "radical reform "vocational training system. Job seekers do not enjoy today that $ 3.8 billion on training 31 billion spent each year. A drop of water

.

The four "priority objectives" set out in its letter of engagement are clear. This is to "orient vocational training to those who need it most, including job seekers," and "encourage companies to better train their employees by allocating adequate funds." The former Minister of Labour intends to not vary from its roadmap. It continues its hearings until mid-March and will report – "an aid to reflection for the future majority" – early April. "We must adapt our discourse and practices in modern times, he says the Figaro, mid-term. Vocational training was forty years ago a tool of social advancement and has become over time a non-aid decommissioning and an insertion tool. "

For now, Gerard Larcher wishes to move three points. First, to increase from 10 to 40% the share of unemployed trained and adapt their training to real business needs. "We must territorialize reflection and ensure that the curriculum really coincide with skills needed in employment areas," he insists. Second, transform-Opca that collect money from training to companies in-prescribers. Third, rationalize expenditures. "We have a problem of cost effectiveness of certain formations, Judge Gerard Larcher. It is possible to redeploy, constant envelope, misused funds to training resulted in strong. "

Reform of the representative employers

Although it is not part of its roadmap, Gerard Larcher also intends to make proposals on the financing of trade unions and professional. Publication on the sly "real fake" Perruchot report on money management and trade unions-which confirmed "without suggesting any solution" that some organizations were shooting some of their resources-training convinced him to go in this sense. "There's too much unsaid and too known on these subjects, he despairs. I can not propose lines of education reform without addressing the issue of funding of social dialogue and propose ways of evolution. "The former second officer of the State should also suggest a reform of the employer's representative, in the vein of that which was implemented in 2008 for the unions, based on the election.

As for the referendum issue, raised by the President to remove "blockages" that are sure to respond to the outcome of discussions on vocational training, Gerard Larcher's not. "I believe in intermediate bodies, they are useful," says he, laconically.

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Apple will host a conference March 7 in San Francisco at 19 am, French time. Program, the announcement of the new iPad, whose invitation to deliver the first image appears.

As every year, rumors are rife about the specifications and new features in Apple's tablet, which should be examined with interest by its competitors.

Two years after the release of the first version, the iPad indeed still dominates the market with 50 million sales, all models, against 12 million Android tablets, and is a reference to the sector payday loans guaranteed no fax.

The new iPad should propose an improved screen, displaying four times as many pixels on the same surface, but could also integrate Siri and why not, be accompanied by an iPad Mini, smaller. This graphic provides an update on the major rumors, according to their reliability.

The Spanish Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, began talks with the country's banks to reduce the number of foreclosures, which increase with the crisis. It should bring forward proposals to try to avoid eviction of defaulters.

The Conservative government of Mariano Rajoy seized and a sensitive social issue, of concern to all Spaniards and which took up the movement of Indignados. In 2010, 100,000 families were expropriated by Spanish banks for unpaid bills, a number four times higher than in 2007.

This worsening situation is as much a crisis as the structure of the real estate market. In Spain, 83% of the population own their homes, a record in the European Union. Despite a change in attitude since the bursting of the housing bubble, the rental market is still very small.

At the height of the housing boom, banks have extended credit indiscriminately to 100% or more of the property value, and floating rate over periods of up to 40 years.

Bombs

As the seizures, the bankers became the first Realtors in the country. These properties are difficult to sell in a sluggish market, now constitute a time bomb in bank balance sheets payday loans for self employed.

The Bank of Spain on Friday issued the rate of bad loans of Spanish banks. At 7.87% in December 2011, the highest figure since 1994, more than double the rate that prevailed there are still three years. These credits, some of which will never be repaid, mainly concern the real estate sector and amounted to 135.7 billion euros.

Between bad loans and a stock of unsold real estate and land, assets considered "problematic" – as to the uncertain value – totaled 176 billion euros in June 2011.

Financial reform prepared by the Executive aims to clean up the banking sector, the main source of market fears. The aim is to promote the absorption of small structures deficit by leading banks and compel credit institutions to strengthen their reserves of 52 billion euros.

The law was passed Thursday by a large majority of MPs. A sacred union rarely given the urgency of the crisis.

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Chroniclers weather will give heart to joy. Not only it is cold, but with the wind, "the temperatures experienced" are even lower. The fold is taken: we now no longer communicating indications of the thermometer observed "under cover". It highlights the feelings of bystanders facing the wind. This is obviously more spectacular when it's 0 degrees on the thermometer and the wind blows at 10 km / h, the wind chill is – and it falls 3 ° – 5 ° at a speed of 20 km / h.

This phenomenon that scientists call "wind chill" was discovered in 1940 during an expedition in Antarctica by Paul Siple. But it was popularized there about ten years, when the media, first in the U.S. and Canada, and Europe, have provided consistently figures in their weather reports. Note that this is a physical reality, and not merely a psychological representation: the protective layer of warm air generated by the human body itself at 37 °, must be renewed more frequently that the wind is strong. Perception of cold is very real.

In the economic field also, "feel" of households and between bosses increasingly into play. It even tends to become the main instrument for measuring the economic climate, for convenience of calculation. It is indeed much easier to ask a panel of business owners if their production increased last month to collect their sales activity. The latter procedure requires aggregate car sales, kilograms of tomatoes and air tickets, which is long and delicate.

The services of the European Commission and questioned each month 125,000 businesses and 40,000 consumers in 27 countries of the Union, both on past activity and prospects coming months. These results, expressing the sense of economic actors – soft data, in English – are obtained almost instantaneously. They are often considered more accurate than traditional statistical data on quantitative (hard data). In France, INSEE shows real-time views of households on the labor market, while the Ministry of Labour provides a month late with the number of job seekers.

The medal has its reverse, however. Discrepancies may arise between the vox populi and accounting realities. Upon the introduction of euro notes and coins, there are just ten years, European consumers have moved to a surge in consumer prices by 4% to 5%. The European Central Bank held instead that the drift did not exceed two or three tenths of a point of additional inflation. This discrepancy between official figures and their perception of "real people" led to a series of explanations: consumers are more price sensitive in their everyday purchases, such as baguette, which were most affected by the introduction of the euro, etc..

Policymakers are rightly concerned about how households perceive things. Like the eighteenth century Irish philosopher George Berkeley, they are led to believe that "only what is perceived to exist." When soliciting votes public, which is in the minds of voters has truth value.

The French "are tired of the growing gap between statistics that show continuous progress and growing difficulties they experience in their daily lives", had expressed concern in January 2008 Nicolas Sarkozy. And to bridge this gap between men of art and the general public, he asked Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, both Nobel Prize in economics, to think about other ways to measure economic wealth than in the sacrosanct GDP. Responding to this concern to "humanize" economic indicators, and other INSEE national institutes have set up a "personalized price index": everyone can calculate – on the website of INSEE – its own inflation rate based on its expenses.

This is laudable, but it is also paradoxical. "The statistics were invented to go beyond what people can see themselves and are now under attack because they do not reflect what people perceive of reality!" , according to former Chief Statistician of OECD Enrico Giovannini.

Worse, it became impossible to escape the image of ourselves, constantly updated, we see in the mirror figures. Its redundancy – just check out the long list of indicators days pending publication – main function to supply high-frequency stock markets, which are fond. For individuals we are, the velocity of circulation of this information produces exactly the same effect as the wind on our bodies. It forces us to constantly renew the idea that we have of our situation. This can only be rehashing debilitating. Feeling of resentment, there is one syllable, and not just any.

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Is more than a breath of fresh air. Thursday's announcement by the second owner worldwide, the group Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), a new investment of 160 million euros in the Port of Le Havre is proof that the future of shipping lights is not so dark.

MSC will indeed develop over 1400 meters long, four positions for its container, whose capacity could increase from 14,000 to 16,000 containers per ship. Giants of the seas as MSC, previously installed alongside Bougainville, in the inner harbor of Le Havre was not able to accommodate.

Titanic work

"The equipment we deliver to MSC required a public investment of about 320 million euros.The shipowner in turn will invest 160 million in coatings, rails, gates, new technologies … "lists Hervé Cornede, commercial director of the Grand Port Maritime du Havre (GPMH). The work already started should be spread until the end of 2012. Once completed, they will allow the owner-Italian Helvetic reach an annual capacity of 1.4 million containers.

Port 2000, the new port of Le Havre dedicated to container, was inaugurated in March 2006 after four years of titanic work for an investment of 1.3 billion euros. In total 4200 meters of docks were created. And Port 2000 full show soon, since it has more than 700 feet of docks available.

France, she missed electricity this winter? Nine months after the German decision to phase out nuclear reactors eight of seventeen will be stopped before the end of the year, the question of feeding the Hexagon concern to the government. Yesterday, on the occasion of the presentation of the report of the electricity transmission network (RTE) on the transition of winter, the industry minister, Eric Besson, has expressed its "vigilance".

Governments based on the calculations of the EDF subsidiary responsible for networks and very high tension. In the first nine months of the year, French exports of electricity to Germany increased by 11% over 2010, while imports fell by 50%.With all these elements, RTE suggests a risk of disruption "moderate fast cash loans."

Regarding the availability of the generation French, it is mixed: most important for the period January, at least in contrast to the months of November and December, due to the revised schedule of the facility.

Wednesday, Eric Besson welcomed RTE can count on an average of 1400 MW: Further expansion of wind power, new combined cycle gas came expand the portfolio of means of production.

Remains the black spot in Britain, has long been known. The region, which produces only 8% of the electricity it consumes, is particularly fragile. Certainly, infrastructure building projects exist, but they are slow to be realized.