Exclusive use of French in workplace declines in Quebec

The use of the French language in the workplace has seen a decline as more Quebec workers incorporate English in their everyday lives, as reported in an article by CTV News.

In the 2023 report on the Language of Work in Quebec by the Office Québécois de la Langue Française (OQLF), it was found that about 66% of adult employees used the French language for at least 90% of the time in their jobs, which was similar to the numbers seen in 2016 and 2010.

And while French was still being used within the job market in Quebec, employees had been using English alongside it as well, said the CTV report.

Because of this, there was a lesser number of Quebec workers who exclusively used French, with the number falling to 32.2% from 39.5% in 2016.

Last year, Quebec introduced strict new requirements mandating nearly all immigrants to Quebec to be able to speak and write in French.

Why French isn’t being used at work

Only 22.3% of workers who were between the ages of 18 to 34 used French exclusively at work. The OQLF found that 30.6% of employees who used languages other than French did so because they had to serve a clientele, communicate with people or consult documents from outside Quebec.

Meanwhile, 29.3% said they did so in order to accommodate a clientele that was speaking in a different language, said the CTV report.

Quebec recently announced it is investing nearly a million dollars to help employers become attractive work environments for workers aged 60 to 69.