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In June 2001, the French government announced measures aimed at consolidating the "youth employment-new services" scheme (EJNS) introduced in 1997. The majority of the jobs created under the scheme will be renewed while, for the young people concerned, the government is seeking to establish support measures and promote training and the "professionalisation" of the areas of work in question. The main innovation is the introduction of special competitive exams for young people on the EJNS scheme in the national education system. Some of the anxieties about EJNS initially voiced by many trade unions remain. These relate mainly to the lack of a guaranteed job at the end of the scheme, the status of the jobs and the perceived inadequacy of the training offered.
On 6 June 2001, Elisabeth Guigou, the Minister for Employment and Solidarity, accompanied by the Ministers of Education and the Interior, announced measures aimed at consolidating the "youth employment-new services" (Emplois-jeunes-Nouveaux services, EJNS) scheme, introduced in 1997 (FR9709163F).
Making the scheme permanent
In a context of a sharp fall in unemployment levels, and particularly youth unemployment, the Minister of the Economy and Finances reiterated the fact that France had made a commitment to its European Union partners that the EJNS scheme would not be subsidised further after the end of 2002. Underlining that the cost of the scheme has risen to EUR 4,878 million in 2001, the Minister had advocated that no new EJNS jobs be budgeted for. This has not been the case however: 30,000 posts will be created in 2001, and 10,000 in 2002. Since the launch of the scheme in 1997: 81,800 jobs have been created in the not-for-profit sector; 64,200 in local authorities; 33,800 in public and semi-state bodies; 70,000 in the state education system (mainly educational assistants); 25,000 in the national police force (principally security officers); and 2,000 in the administration of justice.
All 276,950 EJNS jobs will be extended until 2005 or 2008, depending on the case, either due to the employers concerned receiving funding, or because the public sector jobs specifically created by the law, especially those in the state education system and the police force, will be kept. The progressively decreasing funding for those not-for-profit organisations not able to finance their own EJNS employees will amount to EUR 15,245 per job, spread over three years, with departmental prefects responsible for choosing the beneficiaries. The government feels that at the end of the three-year period, it will be possible to keep on 80% of the EJNS staff in the not-for-profit sector. Organisations performing public service functions will also receive funding worth EUR 10,670 per job over three years, in this case renewable after that period. Small towns or villages, and those located in rural areas considered as "economically vulnerable", will receive the same type of funding.
Greater professionalisation
"Professionalisation" (ie giving those involved a more professional and qualified status) is still an important objective if the positions covered by the scheme are to be made permanent. So far this has been one of the weak points of the programme. Moreover, professionalisation has developed at varying degrees within different sectors. Certain bodies have designed special training courses. Thus for the young people it employs as "on-hand and prevention officers" in trouble spots, the Paris Regional Transport Authority( Régie autonome des transports parisiens, RATP) has put together a syllabus involving 200 hours' training on democracy, urban issues, conflict management and analysing social exclusion. This is in contrast to the state education sector, where the primary reason that many young people joined the scheme was the 200 hours' training promised: they thought they might have the opportunity to prepare for and take exams bestowing qualifications. However, the majority have not been able to take advantage of this number of hours of training. The Minister for Education has acknowledged these inadequacies: 20,000 educational assistants receive no training at all, while 12,000 of them are taking distance learning courses with no teaching support.
This is why the government is seeking to strengthen the training element in EJNS and, above all, offer young people the chance of obtaining a permanent job in the civil service. Some competitive exams will see their rules amended, as has already been the case in the police force, in order to take account of entrants' work experience. In the education system, the young educational assistants will be incorporated according to their level of education - ie the 9,000 graduates among them will be able to take the competitive exams for the civil service immediately, and the 42,000 holders of the baccalauréat upper-secondary certificate will receive additional training to prepare them for the competitive exams affording entry into category B of the civil service. Some of them will also be directed towards the private sector. The government also plans to set up a "third route" for access to full civil servant status positions in the state education system for all those with two years' post-baccalauréat education, alongside the internal and external competitive exams. Those taking the exams will have their work experience as educational assistants taken into account as part of the validation of acquired vocational skills. Moreover, individual support schemes will be established by the public employment services giving guidance to young people, especially those who have left the scheme prematurely.
Trade union responses
The trade unions' reactions to the plan to place the youth employment scheme on a permanent basis reflect a degree of ambivalence. The CFDT confederation approves of the efforts undertaken to help fund the jobs in the not-for-profit sector but expresses regret that the government has not taken bolder steps to change the EJNS positions into lasting jobs within the framework recognised by collective agreements and the civil service. The proposals for a "third route" to civil servant status and the validation of experience are considered still to be too vague. CFDT also stresses the unequal opportunities for finding lasting employment between sectors.
CGT, CGT-FO and the Unitary Union Federation (Fédération Syndicale Unitaire, FSU) (representing teachers) feel that the government's action had been inadequate, and are demanding that the EJNS jobs should be changed into long-term qualification-based employment with wages based on those fixed in collective agreements. CGT called a rally in Paris on 16 June to set a date for the abolition of the EJNS by stopping what it calls "exempted recruitment" in the civil service and replacing it with "defined-status recruitment". FSU is planning strike action by educational assistants for the beginning of the school year in September 2001.
CFTC and the the National Federation of Independent Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes, UNSA) have given their approval to the government's proposals, stressing that they mean that every young person should at the end of the scheme: stay in the post currently occupied; be offered another one; or be put on a training course leading to vocational qualifications. UNSA, however, is demanding a commitment to give 400 hours of individual support per year for each young person throughout the entire contract period. It is also arguing that all the young people involved should enjoy the employment rights deriving from the Labour Code.
Commentary
Most of the studies carried out among the young people and employers involved in the EJNS scheme have shown that the measure enjoys a high satisfaction rate. The main sources of dissatisfaction among the young people relate to the inadequacy of training, the fact that the pay is set at the rate of the SMIC minimum wage, and the opportunities for remaining in their current posts. From this perspective, the consolidation measures announced in June open up some possibilities.
The scheme can be assessed in relation to its twin original goals: responding to the problem of massive youth unemployment; and contributing to the growth of new socially-useful activities. In light of the fact that the scheme's beneficiaries are primarily young people with qualifications at the baccalauréat level or higher - ie those who benefit the most from the current notable recovery in employment levels - the question is raised of whether it is necessary to retain the first objective. The creation of socially-useful activities is coming up against a significant limiting factor, namely that their financial viability is poor and that the extent to which they are being transferred from the subsidised sector to the market is low. However, one originally unannounced objective appears to have been well and truly attained. The use made of the EJNS scheme by several ministries has contributed to fostering strategies of radical change in the supply of public services - bringing about, for instance, internal changes in the national education system, justice system and police force, and a rapid growth in the provision of services in the fields under the responsibility of the Ministry of Youth and Sport. Furthermore, the State Secretariat for the "social economy" has also seen the scheme as a means of spreading the organisational forms and types of economic activity that it seeks to promote. However, it might be questioned if this is really an objective of employment policy. (Florence Lefresne, IRES)