Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

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

Article 1(2) of the Convention. Implementation of an active employment policy. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the active employment policy and its impact with regard to the creation of productive employment and combating unemployment and underemployment, and to indicate whether any other mechanism is envisaged to replace the “small and medium-sized enterprise recruitment bonus”. The Government indicates in its report that since the entry into force of Act No. 2018-771 of 5 September 2018 on the freedom to choose one’s professional future, the employment policy in France has continued to evolve particularly in terms of combatting unemployment and increasing labour market dynamism. The Government also indicates that measures to facilitate both job retention and recruitment, particularly for the most vulnerable groups, such as young persons, have been established as part of the “Recovery France” plan. In addition, new comprehensive and integrated job search support measures have been established within public employment services, such as Pôle emploi or local branches. The Government indicates that additional resources will be allocated to Pôle emploi as part of the “National Recovery and Resilience Plan”. Furthermore, the part-time economic activity scheme has been made more flexible and generous in order to contain the rise in unemployment. The retraining and skills enhancement schemes have also been strengthened with, inter alia, FNE-Training (a scheme dedicated to training for part-time employees or those in enterprises facing economic difficulties) or the scaling-up of the ProA scheme (work-study promotion or retraining schemes). A new scheme to anticipate economic change and retraining needs, entitled “Collective Transitions”, has also been introduced. In this respect, the Committee notes the detailed statistics provided by the Government, particularly those relating to the number of people registered with Pôle emploi and required to seek employment (categories A, B, C), which stood at 5,688,700 in the second quarter of 2021. It also notes the INSEE annual data for 2021 on underemployment, disaggregated by sex (8.6 per cent for women and 4.3 per cent for men) and age (10.4 per cent for young persons aged 15–24, 6 per cent for those aged 25-49 and 6.1 per cent for workers aged 50 or over). With regard to employment trends, the Committee notes the data relating to labour market analyses and indicators (INSEE), in particular those relating to trends in salaried employment, excluding temporary work, by status and by activity sector from 2015 to 2020, and in temporary work by user sector from 2000 to 2020. Regarding bonuses and recruitment grants, the Government refers to the introduction of bonuses and recruitment grants with a view to promoting the integration of particular categories of workers who face obstacles in accessing the labour market, such as young persons, persons with disabilities, the long-term unemployed and older workers. In this respect, the Committee notes the establishment of specific measures to promote the integration of older workers into the labour market, such as through the payment of a €2,000 grant to employers who recruit job seekers aged 45 or over. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that the French employment policy has been significantly affected by the health crisis and that several measures have been put in place to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on governmental employment policies, particularly within the framework of the “Recovery France” and “A solution for every young person” plans. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed and up-to-date information, including statistics, disaggregated by age and sex, on the nature, scope and impact of the active labour market measures taken to promote sustainable employment and decent work, particularly within the framework of the implementation of the provisions of Act No. 2018-771 of 5 September 2018 on the freedom to choose one’s professional future and the implementation of the “Recovery France” plan and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in response to its previous request concerning the application of the provisions of Article 3.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.