For 30 years, help for young people trying to enter the labour market has been a policy focus for successive French governments. Under-25s are not eligible for state income support and recent figures show that 23% of those aged between 18 and 25 live in poverty and have precarious employment. Since October 2013, the government has piloted the Youth Guarantee initiative to address this problem. Although welcomed by unions, other social partners have said the scheme is too costly.
Background
Under-25s on low incomes in France cannot claim help from the Active Solidarity Income (RSA) scheme (FR0811029I). If they have not worked for at least two years, they are also unable to receive the ‘young people’s RSA’ (FR1009011I). However, young people who fall into the NEET category (not in employment, education or training) could now benefit from the Youth Guarantee, an initiative that has been piloted since October 2013.
Youth Guarantee in France and Europe
The initiative came out of the European Council’s proposal for a European Youth Guarantee (EU1212011I) intended to help young people leaving education enter the labour market. The Council’s recommendation of 22 April 2013 says Member States should establish a ‘Youth Guarantee’ that promises ‘a quality job, continuing education, an apprenticeship or traineeship’ for all those under 25 within four months of them leaving formal education or becoming unemployed. What they are offered should fit each individual’s needs and situation. The Council’s text invites the Member States ‘to improve the first [post-statutory education] experience of young people and their participation in the labour market’.
In France, the Multiannual plan against poverty and for social inclusion (in French, 590 KB PDF), which was adopted by the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Fight Against Exclusion on 21 January 2013, set out plans for the creation of a ‘Youth Guarantee’. This guarantee, complemented by an allocation of income support at a level equivalent to the RSA, is to be available to young people who are unemployed and are not students or trainees and gives them the right to work experience. The initiative was implemented by Decree No. 2013-880 of 1 October 2013 concerning the testing of the ‘Youth Guarantee’.
Youth Guarantee pilot programme
The government has selected 10 departments to test the Youth Guarantee: Aude, Bouches-du-Rhone, Seine-Saint-Denis, La Réunion, Vaucluse, Lot-et-Garonne, Allier in partnership with Puy-de-Dôme, Finistère, Eure and Vosges. The scheme will be piloted throughout 2014 and will be extended to a further 10 departments later in the year, becoming mainstream policy across France by 2016. In 2014, it is estimated that 100,000 young people will participate.
To take part, individuals must be aged between 18 and 25, be unable to find work or a training opportunity and be experiencing hardship. They must live independently; they must not reside in the family home or, if they do, they must not receive financial help from their parents. Young people who already benefit from the youth RSA are not eligible. Some exceptions may be possible; for example, for those younger than 18 years of age who are in hardship and without work or training.
A contract is made between the participant and a local agency of the public employment service for a year. The participant is paid €433.75 a month. This can be combined with other sources of income, such as housing assistance, income from professional activities, unemployment or social security benefits, or training allowances, if the total from other sources is not more than €300 per month.
Participants agree to follow a personalised programme, seek job opportunities or accept a placement in a professional career pathway. In return, the local public employment service guarantees support for the participant in their job-seeking and training.
Scheme attracts criticism
The first of the contracts was signed on 14 October 2013 in the presence of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault who described the scheme as a ‘contract of mutual obligations’.
The President of the General Council of the Aude department, André Viola of the Socialist Party, was also at the first signing. He commented: ‘It is a matter of give and take: public assistance, against the formal commitment of the young to train themselves.’
But comments on the scheme have not all been positive.
The Deputy Secretary General of opposition party Modem, Christophe Madrolle, suggested in a press release (in French) that the ‘Youth Guarantee’ is both ‘absurd and counterproductive’, and is ‘particularly expensive with vague impact’.
The annual running cost of the scheme up to 2016 is estimated to be €500 million.
The opposition UMP was quoted in an online article (in French) as being critical of ‘a social system that favours assistantship at the expense of labour’.
However, others support the scheme.
‘Finally, a young RSA’, commented Martin Hirsch, founder of the RSA and former High Commissioner for youth, who wants to introduce an incentive system for employment and training.
The National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (UNSA) described the measure as a ‘step in the right direction’, commenting that more than 200,000 young people leave the education system every year without a diploma.
Hélène Tissandier, University Paris-Dauphine, IR Share