Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

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

Article 1(2) of the Convention. Implementation of an active employment policy. The Committee notes the detailed replies in the Government’s report for the period ending in June 2011. It notes that the unemployment rate for the active population in metropolitan France was 9.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010, amounting to 2.6 million unemployed persons. The Government indicates that the measures taken to improve the employment situation did contribute to an increase in the number of persons hired in the course of 2010, with more than 200,000 jobs created, amounting to annual employment growth of 0.8 per cent and an employment level almost equal to that recorded before the 2008 crisis. The Government nevertheless states that more than half of these jobs were attributable to a dynamic temporary job sector, particularly in industry. Furthermore, as the temporary job sector continued to generate employment, the proportion of persons in stable employment fell, posting a drop of 1.2 points as compared to 2009. Underemployment, affecting both part-time employees seeking more work and unemployed jobseekers (temporary layoffs and short timers), increased by 0.6 per cent over 2009. The Committee notes that with the entry into force of new subsidized contracts in 2010 – the Employment Initiative Contract (CUE–CIE) and the Employment Support Contract (CUI-CAE) – the number of workers in assisted employment remained stable in relation to 2009. The Committee also notes that the number of jobseekers registering with Pôle emploi centres has continued to increase in 2011. The Committee accordingly invites the Government to provide an evaluation of the active employment policy measures currently implemented and to indicate how, in practice, they have affected the creation of productive employment and the objective of reducing unemployment and underemployment nationwide. Please also indicate how the recent public debt retrenchment initiatives taken by the Government will contribute to improving the employment situation.

Youth employment. The Committee notes that the youth unemployment rate remains high, having reached 23.7 per cent in 2009, and that the employment rate in the 15–25 age group was around 64 per cent in 2010. In reply to the comments made by the Committee in its previous observation, the Government indicates that several measures to revive youth employment have been launched to facilitate the integration of young people in the labour market. Thus, in 2010, young people accounted for 85 per cent of all persons hired under integration contracts and support contracts in the commercial sector, and 28 per cent in the non-commercial sector, so that, in all, over 25 per cent of jobs in the under-26 age group were subsidized by the State. Work/training scheme has also been developed through fiscal incentives to hiring, such as the recruitment premium for hiring an additional employee granted to more than 55,000 enterprises, generating more than 65,000 new jobs, or the exemption from charges granted to more than 500 enterprises, enabling a further 33,000 persons to be hired. The Committee also notes the results obtained through the Social Integration Contract (CIVIS). The CIVIS has been offered to around 1 million young people since its creation in 2005, and 34 per cent of the beneficiaries, most of whom are low-skilled, have gone on to find employment. “Autonomy” contracts, of which 36,000 have been signed since they were introduced in 2008, enabled 10,000 new jobseekers to go on to employment in 2010. The introduction of “single entrepreneur” (autoentrepreneur) status and the creation of the cheque emploi service in 2009 have likewise had a positive effect on employment, generating an increase in self employment among young people in 2010. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide detailed information on youth employment trends, including statistics disaggregated by age, gender and any other grounds in respect of which data is available. The Committee invites the Government to include an evaluation of the active employment policy measures implemented to minimize the impact of unemployment on young people and to encourage their sustainable integration in the labour market, in particular the most disadvantaged categories of young people.

Older workers. The Committee notes that the employment rate of older workers aged from 55–64 years stood at 40 per cent at the end of 2010, with recruitment under subsidized contracts amounting to only 4 per cent in the commercial sector, and 19 per cent in the non-commercial sector. Although older workers have suffered less than youth from the repercussions the crisis has had on unemployment, the Government indicates that more than 6 per cent of this group were unemployed in 2009. The Committee notes that publicly funded retirement, arrangements, including early retirement, have had a positive effect on the activity rate of elderly workers. It also notes that in January 2010, new arrangements were introduced to encourage employers to adopt an active age management strategy. Thus, since 2010, provision has been made for the abolition of mandatory retirement at the age of 65 in the Social Security Financing Act, and the age at which an employer may order retirement has been raised from 65 to 70 years, this being the age at which the employer may terminate the contract of an older worker, citing the statutory age of entitlement to retirement benefit. In the public service too, employees may work beyond the maximum age and up to the age of 65 at the request of the worker and subject to physical fitness. The Government indicates lastly that, even though the activity rate of older workers varies according to age and declines rapidly after the age of 54, it has increased consistently in the last ten years across all occupations, and that large firms are increasingly giving consideration to employing older workers. The Committee requests the Government to continue to send detailed information on the situation, level and trends of employment for older workers, and to indicate the results obtained by the measures intended to remedy unemployment and underemployment among these workers.

Education and training policy. The Government indicates that the Joint Career Security Fund (FPSPP), established by the 2009 Act on lifelong vocational guidance and training, has provided support for more than 100,000 jobseekers and 250,000 wage earners. The FPSPP covers various types of measures aimed at affording jobseekers easier access to labour market information and at facilitating recourse to the “validation of non-formal learning” (VAE) system. The Government further indicates that the Association for Vocational Training for Adults (AFPA) enabled 60 per cent of its trainees in 2010 to find employment within six months of completing the programme, 30 per cent of whom obtained fixed-term appointments. The Individual Training Leave (CIF) system, which enables workers on indefinite contracts, fixed-term contracts or temporary contracts to undergo training of their choice, has enabled more than 80 per cent of the beneficiaries to keep their jobs and to sit an examination on completion of training in order to validate their experience. The Committee notes that the social partners recognize the effectiveness of the CIF and consider that it plays an active part in employment policies, particularly to the benefit of underskilled employees. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the programmes to promote lifelong training with a view to improving the professional skills of adults, together with an evaluation of how they affect the generation of lasting and freely chosen employment.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners. The Government indicates that the social partners are consulted both before employment policies are created and after they are in place, thanks in particular to the role the National Employment Council (CNE) plays in consultation. It adds that the CNE held nine meetings in the course of 2010 during which it was consulted about a number of decrees and a law pertaining to employment policy, and about requests for approval for decisions taken by the social partners, such as agreements on the temporary cessation of activity or the 2010 National Interoccupational Agreement on social management of the consequences of the economic crisis on employment. The Committee also notes that in 2011, the social partners introduced the Occupational Security Contract (CSP) to facilitate the return to employment of workers dismissed on economic grounds. The Committee asks the Government to include in its next report other examples of how the consultations held with social partners have had an impact on the formulation of an active policy to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment.