Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

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

The Committee notes the observations of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) received on 30 August 2024, and those of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) received on 24 October 2024, as well as the Government’s responses to those observations, received on 25 October and 14 November 2024.

Article 1(2) of the Convention. Youth employment. The Government indicates in its report that support for young persons is prioritized to ensure their integration in the labour market and their social and employment inclusion. To facilitate contacts between young persons and enterprises, in 2020 the French authorities, as part of the “Recovery France” (France Relance) plan, established the “Solution for every young person” (1 jeune, 1 solution) platform. In 2022, the Directorate of Research, Economic Studies and Statistics (Dares) published a study quantifying the increase in enrolment in the main schemes under this plan (+ 41 per cent between mid-2020 and mid-2021) and providing an overview of the beneficiaries. Regarding support for apprenticeship, the Government indicates that France has been applying an ambitious and proactive policy to facilitate the labour market integration of young persons since 2018. Employers are encouraged to employ young persons on apprenticeship contracts, including at high qualification levels, and may receive subsidies of up to €6,000 for recruitment under the dual learning scheme. Between 2018 and 2023, the annual number of apprenticeships rose from around 320,000 to around 850,000. In its observations, the CGT denounces the subsides, which are given without preconditions to employers for the recruitment of apprentices. According to the CFDT it would also appear that new enterprises abuse use of apprenticeships to answer to short-term labour needs. As a consequence, many young persons find themselves obliged to take successive apprenticeship contracts. Moreover, the CFDT observes an increase in requests for unemployment benefit following an apprenticeship. In its reply to the observations, the Government indicates that subsidizing apprenticeship has had a very positive effect on youth employment. The support for apprenticeship contracts for higher levels of qualification has restored the tarnished image of apprenticeship in France and enabled young persons held back by lack of financial resources to access higher education – thanks to free, paid training. With regard to the Youth Employment Agreement (CEJ), the Government indicates that particular attention is paid to young persons most disengaged from employment. The CEJ is aimed at those from 16 to 25 years of age inclusive (or 29 years inclusive in the case of workers with disabilities), who are not students, are not in training and who are encountering difficulties in finding sustainable employment. In force since 1 March 2022, the CEJ provides intensive individual coaching, within a strict framework, with the objective of a rapid and durable entry into employment. Furthermore, the “Territories of Industry” (Territoires d’industrie) programme, launched in 2018, was extended for a second phase from 2023 to 2027. Its aims include the development of industrial skills and training in the inter-municipalities situated in the countryside, outlying urban and rural areas. More broadly, the reform of France Travail (Act No. 2023-1196 of 18 December 2023) strengthens cooperation between the territorial levels (regional, department, local) to respond better to the characteristics of employment in each territory (for example, by creating territorial committees for employment). With regard to young persons with disabilities, the Committee notes that several general law provisions have been made more flexible. Thus, the apprenticeship contract can be accessed at 16 years, with no upper age limit. As a result, the number of apprentices with disabilities nearly doubled between 2020 and 2023 (from 7,000 to more than 13,000). Finally, Act No. 2023-1196 includes a section containing support measures for workers with disabilities to promote their inclusion. Noting the concerns expressed by the CGT and CFDT regarding a possible “freeloader effect” and the replacement of regular jobs by subsidized apprenticeship contracts, the Committee requests the Government to provide a specific assessment on this point. It further requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that apprenticeship remains a real tool to promote training and sustainable integration, and not a means whereby enterprises can reduce labour costs for posts that do not require lengthy training. The Committee also requests data on retention rates in the enterprise on completion of the apprenticeship contract.

Older workers. Long-term unemployment. In response to previous comments by the Committee, the Government indicates that the pensions reform that came into force on 1 September 2023 gradually raises the statutory retirement age from 62 to 64 years (Act No. 2023-270 of 14 April 2023 rectifying the social security financing for 2023). The retirement age is maintained at 62 years for workers who can prove that they are unfit for work or disabled, and at 55 years for workers with disabilities. Specific provisions have been introduced for long careers. The reform also facilitates progressive retirement by easing the conditions of access thereto (allowing part-time work while receiving a partial pension), extending this scheme to all insured persons and making it possible to acquire pension rights while in progressive retirement. The contributory period for eligibility to a full pension will go from 42 to 43 years in 2027. For those who have not fulfilled this period of eligibility, retirement age for a full pension remains at 67 years. According to the CFDT, since the adoption of the Act of 14 April 2023, no measure specifically to promote remaining in employment and sustainability of work for older workers has been adopted. According to the CGT, nearly half of unemployed persons over the age of 50 years are long-term unemployed (more than one year). The Committee notes from the Government’s report that long-term unemployment decreased from 2.3 per cent in 2021 to 1.8 per cent in 2023, its lowest level since 2009. Launched in 2016 and extended in 2021, the “No long-term unemployed” project (Territoires zero chômeur de longue durée) (TZCLD) aims at creating local jobs adapted to the skills of long-term unemployed persons in activities that are useful to the community but often not covered by the market. The project’s objective is to reduce long-term unemployment in the areas concerned and to promote reintegration of persons most disengaged from employment by proposing them sustainable jobs that are adapted to their capabilities. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed and up-to-date information on the situation, level and trends in the employment of older workers, and on the effects of the measures taken to improve access for the long-term unemployed and older workers to productive and sustainable employment, including within the framework of the “No long-term unemployed” project.

Given the increase in the statutory retirement age and the heightened risk of long-term unemployment for older workers, the Committee requests the Government to respond to the observations of the CFDT according to which no measure specific to remaining in work accompanied the reform. It requests the Government to indicate how it ensures that the increase in the retirement age does not result in an increase in precarity or long-term unemployment for workers aged from 60 to 64 years, and to provide information on all related measures as well as specific statistics on the employment rates in this precise age-bracket.

Education and training policy. The Government indicates that in France, the promotion of lifelong training is a keystone of public policy aimed at improving the vocational skills of adults and to encourage the creation of sustainable and freely chosen jobs. The principal initiatives include the personal training account (Compte Personnel de Formation) (CPF), the investment in skills plan (Plan d’investissement dans les compétences) (PIC) and the recognition of prior learning (Validation des acquis de l’expérience) (VAE). The CPF enables everyone to accumulate training rights, denominated in euros, regardless of their employment status; these rights are strictly personal. In its observations, the CFDT refers to a Dares study noting that in 2023 entries into training under the CPF stood at 1,335,900, a drop of 28 per cent compared with 2022. This reduction of more than 500,000 persons entering training occurred following the 2022 introduction of several changes to the CPF. In its response to the observations, the Government indicates that the drop in use of the CPF may be explained by the dissuasive effect of the introduction of an obligatory financial participation. The Government indicates that the PIC, launched in 2018, set the goal of training one million low-skilled unemployed persons and one million young persons disengaged from the labour market. The evaluation carried out after five years’ deployment shows an increase in persons entering training courses over the entire period (1.6 million entries in training programmes for jobseekers, more than double the number from 2017). The CGT indicates that the PIC had a budget of €2.5 billion for 2023, but with a new objective: to reinforce the range of training aimed at answering to the needs of enterprises. The CGT is firmly opposed to this objective of aligning training to the immediate requirements of enterprises. The purpose of the training is not to respond to the needs of enterprises, but to finance activities aimed at building the skills of low-skilled unemployed workers and unskilled young persons, as indicated by the initial goal of the PIC in 2018. Concerning the VAE, the Committee notes that the Act on urgent measures related to the functioning of the labour market with a view to full employment (Act No. 2022-1598 of 21 December 2022) and the Decree of 27 December 2023 have further developed procedures. The Government indicates that the reform simplifies, modernizes and secures access to skills recognition, for example by removing the minimum duration of experience required, facilitating admissibility of applications. It also establishes a universal right to VAE, enabling each individual to ensure recognition, throughout their working lives, of their experience in relation to the needs of the labour market. In 2022, the Dares published a study that followed the pathways of jobseekers who entered training as from 2017. The study concluded that the training was having a positive effect on the return to employment in the two years following the training, and that the effect was greater still for the persons most disengaged from the labour market. Recalling that Article 1 of the Convention requires an active policy designed to promote full employment, the Committee requests the Government to evaluate whether the introduction of an obligatory financial participation for training within the framework of the CPF may constitute a financial obstacle and whether this measure has a disproportionate impact on the least skilled and most precarious workers, who have the greatest need of training. The Government is also requested to indicate the possible corrective measures envisaged to ensure that access to training remains effective for the most vulnerable persons. The Committee further requests the Government to continue to provide up-to-date information on: (i) the impact of lifelong learning promotion programmes, in terms of building the occupational skills of adults; and (ii) the creation of sustainable and freely chosen employment. Taking account of the observations of the CGT and CFDT, the Government is further requested to continue to communicate information on the impact of the personal training account (CPF), the Investment in Skills Plan (PIC) as well as the recognition of prior learning (VAE).