Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - France (Ratification: 1971)

The Committee notes the Government’s report received in January 2009 containing detailed indications in reply to its 2007 observation.

1. Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Convention. Labour market trends and active employment policy. The Government has provided an assessment of the employment measures adopted since 2005, together with information on strategic policy trends in relation to employment and vocational training for the period 2007–08. The Government attached to its report studies published by the DARES (Directorate of Dissemination and Research, Studies and Statistics) containing statistical data for the period 2005–07 on the implementation of measures, such as the employment assistance contract, the employment initiative contract, the contract for young persons in enterprises and the contract for integration into working life. The Government also refers to the Act for economic modernization of 4 August 2008 as being pivotal to its strategy of supporting economic growth, particularly through innovation, training and enterprise development. In this respect, the Committee notes that new measures have been adopted to attenuate the consequences of the global crisis on employment. According to forecasts, the unemployment rate, which had remained around 8 per cent in 2008, could rise up to 10 per cent in the months to come. The Committee refers to its 2008 observation and once again invites the Government to provide information in its next report on the results achieved by the labour market measures taken to attenuate the consequences of the crisis on employment.

2. Article 1, paragraph 2. Youth employment. In its previous comments, the Committee invited the Government to provide information on the results achieved by the measures introduced to facilitate the access of young persons to decent employment, particularly in sensitive urban areas and underprivileged regions, as well as for young persons who lack the necessary qualifications for integration into working life. The Government indicates that the measures adopted for young persons consist principally of accompanying them towards employment with the objective of expediting the transition towards long-term employment or a vocational qualification for those who do not have any. In 2008, the unemployment rate among young persons between the ages of 15 and 24 (approaching 23 per cent) was higher than the European average (approaching 17 per cent), and young persons were over-represented in precarious forms of employment, as 35 per cent of them, compared with fewer than 15 per cent for employed persons as a whole, only had temporary employment (a short-term contract, temporary employment or assisted employment). The Espoir banlieues Plan announced in February 2008 includes three measures in its employment component: the autonomy contract, which provides for individualized support for a period of one year, for six months prior to and six months following the conclusion of an employment contract with remuneration based on performance, between the public or private employment institution and young persons in sensitive urban areas; support for enterprise creation, with the attribution of financing in the form of interest-free loans for 20,000 creators of enterprises each year as from 2010; and the conclusion of a “national commitment to jobs for young persons in sensitive areas” by major enterprises, offering recruitment, work experience and sandwich training courses. The Committee invites the Government to provide detailed information with its next report on the results achieved in terms of the creation of jobs for young persons through the measures adopted, and particularly the implementation and impact of the Espoir banlieues Plan, including evaluations of the impact of these measures in terms of the long-term integration of young persons into the labour market.

3. Employment of older workers. The Government indicates that the improvement of the employment rate of older workers is a major goal for growth and social cohesion. Recalling that the employment rate of workers aged between 55 and 64 years is 38.3 per cent in France, compared with an average of 44.7 per cent in the EU, the Government refers to the implementation of the National Plan of Concerted Action for the Employment of Older Workers, 2006–10, which has three objectives: encouraging enterprises to retain older workers, easing the conditions for the accumulation of employment and retirement benefits and facilitating the return to work of older workers. The Committee hopes that the next report will contain updated information on the impact of the measures intended to increase the employment rate of older workers, including the measures implemented following agreements negotiated with the social partners in enterprises with over 300 employees and at the sectoral level.

4. Education and training policies. The Government refers to the reform process of the vocational training system as one of the priorities for action in 2008. The report enumerates the principal policy aims of this reform, which is intended to simplify and improve the effectiveness of the system and make it more equitable, as indicated by the results of a tripartite group bringing together the State, the regions and the social partners. Negotiations on the reform of vocational training were due to be held before the end of 2008 between the Government and the social partners, and dialogue between the Government and the regions was due to commence with a view to determining the respective areas of competence of all of the stakeholders. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the measures adopted, the arrangements for their implementation and their impact in the context of the reform of the vocational training system. Please also indicate the positions of the various parties, and particularly of the social partners.

5. Article 3. Participation of the social partners in policy formulation and implementation. The Government refers to the Act of 31 January 2007 to modernize social dialogue, as well as the Act of 13 February 2008 on reforms in the organization of the public employment service, in relation to the various dialogue, consultation and information procedures through which the social partners participate in employment policy formulation. The Committee notes that the Act of 13 February 2008 envisages the establishment of a National Employment Council (CNE), to replace the former Higher Employment Committee. The effectiveness of this body in determining the strategic orientations of employment policy has been reinforced with a view to improving dialogue between the State, the social partners and the territorial communities. Moreover, the CNE has been made responsible for adopting a programme for the evaluation of employment policies every year. The Committee hopes that the next report will contain information on the basis of which it can examine the manner in which the experience and views of the representatives of the persons affected have been taken into account in the formulation and implementation of an active employment policy. It hopes that the report will also contain examples of the manner in which dialogue with the social partners was held prior to the implementation of employment policy.