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our des

omptes

The labour market:

faced with a high level of unemployment,

policies need to be better targeted

Important Notice

Summary

of the

Public Thematic Report

he present summary is intended to facilitate the

understanding and use of the report produced by

the Cour des Comptes.The Cour des Comptes shall

only be bound by the report itself.

The responses of the administrations and bodies

concerned are published in the wake of the report.

January 2013

Contents

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

Introduction

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

the dualism of the labour market exacerbated by

the crisis

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

unemployment benefit funding which

is difficult to maintain

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

systems that are less than efficient with regards to the rise

in unemployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

policies that are not targeted enough towards populations

in need

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

A complex and insufficiently coordinated representative

public governance system

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

General conclusion

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Recommendations

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Introduction

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

he outbreak of the crisis in summer 2007 and its effects on the economy

which were felt as of late 2008 resulted in a significant increase in unem-

ployment in our country, causing it to rise from 7.4% at the end of 2007 to 10.6%

in December 2012, its highest level in two decades. In an economic climate that does

not offer any short-term indication of a return to sufficient levels of growth to bring

about a net creation of jobs, the French economy will more than likely have to deal

with a higher than average level of unemployment over the coming years.

In the light of this situation, public policy is no longer passive and a large num-

ber of initiatives have been undertaken. However, having failed to take into account

all the changes that have occurred in the labour market, these have had limited effect

and have been unsuccessful in halting the increase in unemployment. Such policies are

now double-bound by an economic context which has increased the need for interven-

tion and a public finance situation which has limited the means available for such

intervention.

Drawing on surveys carried out over the past two years, the Cour has focused its

analysis on ‘policies designed to boost the labour market’. This notion, developed by

Eurostat as of 1996, relates to ‘public intervention in the labour market aimed at

facilitating the smooth running of the market itself and correcting imbalances, and

which can be distinguished from other more general labour policy interventions inso-

far as they are selective in encouraging specific groups within the labour market’. Such

policies are therefore characterised by their targeting of unemployed citizens registered

with the public employment service, as well as other groups experiencing difficulty

accessing or staying in the labour market. Having said that, they are not part of the

more general measures taken, such as social contribution exemptions and reductions,

or even measures relating to employment law. In this respect, they represent a total

annual expenditure of over €50 billion, or 2.5 GDP points.

In continuation of the present summary, the Cour would suggest that the poli-

cies designed to boost the labour market be redirected, thus allowing for better alloca-

tion of the means available to those job-seekers and employees that have been left most

vulnerable by the crisis.

The main conclusions reached by the Cour are outlined in the five chapters of

the report:

- despite the various measures implemented since 2008, unemployment levels

have deteriorated more in France than in various other European countries, with

those members of the working population that are the most vulnerable appearing to

be the main victims of the crisis;

- unemployment insurance implements various protective compensation rules,

but it would appear difficult to sustain its financial development over a period of very

poor growth;

- certain systems designed to deal with the deterioration of the employment

situation, such as short-time working and assisted contracts, are not as efficient as they

need to be;

- the targeting of systems designed to improve access to employment or help those

who needed it most to stay in employment has been less than satisfactory;

- the measures taken to deal with the issue of having multiple players involved

in labour and professional training policy have not achieved the desired effects.

Introduction

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

Cour des comptes

The dualism of the labour market

exacerbated by the crisis

Whilst economic activity has resis-

ted the crisis somewhat better in France

than in the average OECD country, and

labour market policy has played quite a

major role in this, the increase in unem-

ployment in our country since 2009 has

been more significant than that expe-

rienced by some of our neighbours, and

Germany in particular.

Source: OECD

The dualism of the labour market

exacerbated by the crisis

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

A more in-depth analysis showed

that the deterioration of the employ-

ment situation has not affected the

entire working population in the same

way. Indeed, the more vulnerable seg-

ments of the population, – including

those in precarious jobs, young people,

low-skilled workers and those employed

in small businesses, – were the most

heavily affected.

This situation is a result of two spe-

cific features of the reaction on the part

of the French labour market since 2009:

- firstly, employers have adapted to

the decline in activity by reducing work-

force numbers (external flexibility)

rather than the number of hours wor-

ked (internal flexibility). In this respect,

France differs greatly from Germany

and certain other European countries

which have managed to limit the

increase in unemployment during the

crisis by appealing for internal flexibility

mechanisms, notably short-time wor-

king, to be adopted;

Source: OECD

The dualism of the labour market

exacerbated by the crisis

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

- secondly, the significant decline in

the situation of the most precarious

employees since 2009 has accentuated

the ‘ dualism of the labour market’,

comprising, on the one hand, relatively

protected workers whose jobs are relati-

vely stable, and on the other, more vul-

nerable workers whose jobs are tempo-

rary and who often have no choice but

to travel around for work.

The comparison with the crisis of

1993 illustrates this progression - whe-

reas in 1993 economic redundancies had

been the primary means of adjustment,

in 2008, mass reductions in the number

of precarious positions (temporary wor-

kers and those on fixed-term contracts)

bore the brunt of the effects of the cri-

sis, since these types of positions had

become far more common since the late

1990s. These changes in the labour mar-

ket were brought about before the ins-

truments of labour and professional

training policy had even been adapted to

reflect this new situation.

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

Cour des comptes

Unemployment benefit funding

which is difficult to maintain

Unemployment benefit plays an

essential role when it comes to labour

market policy instruments since it helps

maintain

consumption

levels

and

reduces the effects of economic ebbs

and flows by providing those without

employment

with

replacement

income. The rules governing the alloca-

tion of such benefits also help encou-

rage job-seekers to get back into the

workplace.

The financial situation regarding

unemployment insurance has greatly

deteriorated over the past few years;

indeed, the 2009 convention introduced

a regime that is distinctly more protec-

tive than those of other countries.

Furthermore, the sustainability of the

regime is now being questioned by a

consistently high level of unemploy-

ment.

Better unemployment insu-

rance cover than in other

countries

France tackled the crisis with a new

unemployment insurance convention,

signed in early 2009, which had been

negotiated over the course of the pre-

vious year and was primarily designed to

encourage better cover for the unem-

ployed, particularly those in more preca-

rious situations. The convention resul-

ted in the extension of the conditions

governing access to benefits. Whilst

under the previous system the minimum

period of work required in order to qua-

lify for benefit payments was 6 months

over the course of a 22-month base

period, the new convention reduced the

minimum period to 4 months over the

course of a 28-month base period.

The French unemployment benefit

system has certain features which could

result in it being considered protective

in relation to the systems in place in

other countries:

- it is more accessible than in most

European countries due to its short

minimum contribution period and its

rather long base period. Whilst benefit

payments in France, for example, are

available to employees who have worked

for at least 4 months over a period of 28

months, in Germany and Italy they are

only available to those who have worked

for 12 months over a period of

24 months;

Unemployment benefit funding

which is difficult to maintain

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

______________

(1) Relationship between the benefits paid out by unemployment insurance and the

previous employment income.

(2) Net replacement rate incorporating social and fiscal deductions as well as additional

social benefits (including housing allowance).

Net replacement rate depending on reference salary

(2)

Net replacement rates including additional social benefits, including housing allowance

for a single job-seeker with no dependants

Source: OECD tax-benefits calculator, Cour des Comptes calculations

- the level of benefits offered, mea-

sured in terms of the ‘replacement

rate ‘

(1)

, is rather high: close to the

European average, it is nevertheless

higher than in other countries for

employees at either end of the income

scale - those on the highest incomes and

those on the lowest incomes;

Unemployment benefit funding

which is difficult to maintain

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

- it offers a long maximum benefit

period (24 months as opposed to

12 months in Germany, 10 months in

Sweden and 8 months in Italy), but is

reserved for employees in more stable

positions, that is those that have worked

for longer periods of time.

An unemployment insu-

rance system facing crisis

The unemployment insurance sys-

tem was weakened by the crisis:

- it now offers a reduced rate of

coverage (the rate of coverage relates to

the number of people in receipt of

benefits divided by the total number of

job-seekers) decreased from 48.5% in

2009 to 44.8 % in 2011, notably due to a

high proportion of job-seekers reaching

the end of their benefit qualification

period;

- its nature has been affected by the

strong development of the benefit sys-

tem and has moved towards a ‘reduced

working hours’ approach which enables

recipients to concurrently work part-

time or on a fixed-term contract and

receive benefit payments. This system

affected 45% of beneficiaries in 2011

and brought about a fear that certain

companies might incorporate this situa-

tion into their management methods,

using benefit payments as a means of

paying those employees in the most vul-

nerable positions;

- its links with solidarity schemes

(allocation of specific forms of social

welfare benefits, such as the RSA) have

become complex and have resulted in

failures in the way certain job-seekers

are treated;

- finally, its financial situation has

greatly deteriorated since 2009. The

debt of the unemployment insurance

system could well increase from

€

9 bn

in 2010 to

€

18.5bn in 2013, that is nearly

one GDP point. This development is

notably linked to the persistent aggrava-

tion of the benefit system by temporary

workers in the entertainment industry

(Appendices 8 and 10 of the unemploy-

ment insurance convention), the annual

shortfall of which stands at

€

1bn and

benefits only 3 % of job-seekers.

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

Cour des comptes

Systems that are less than

efficient with regards to the

rise in unemployment

France dealt with the crisis using

various labour policy instruments that

were sometimes obsolete and failed to

be as effective as was hoped. This was

particularly true with regards to short-

time working and assisted contracts.

The insufficient implemen-

tation of short-time wor-

king practices

Having become quasi-obsolete by

the start of the 21

Century, there was

an attempt to reform the situation with

a return to the short-time working sys-

tem, which enables an establishment to

temporarily reduce its working hours to

below the legal working period in order

to avoid having to make economic

redundancies, in the wake of the crisis.

The modernisation of the system resul-

ted in the creation of a new, more

favourable short-time working system in

2009 that was known as APLD (‘long-

term short-time working). This new sys-

tem operates alongside the old one and

has not replaced it.

The changes made to the short-time

working benefit system did not succeed

in ensuring that the system was put to

best use during the crisis; in fact, the use

made of the system was far below that

observed in Germany, for example

(250,000 employees affected in France

in 2009 as opposed to 1.5 million in

Germany over the course of the same

year).

This poor uptake of the short-time

working system is the result of a combi-

nation of factors:

- the modernisation of the system

came too late with regards to the dyna-

mics of the economic context; in parti-

cular, it was not possible to implement

the APLD system until the 3

quarter

of 2009, once the height of the crisis

had already passed and companies were

already demonstrating less of a need to

resort to short-time working practices;

- persistent difficulties were expe-

rienced in the implementation of the

system, notably due to its complexity;

- the financial nature of the short-

time working system was less than

attractive to companies. In this respect,

the outstanding amount payable by the

employer in the framework of the

short-time working system is notably

higher in France than in other countries,

standing at around 30% of the cost of

the employee’s previous salary as oppo-

sed to 15% in Germany (excluding any

potential contractual provisions).

Systems that are less than efficient with regards

to the rise in unemployment

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

Persistent resorting to inef-

ficient assisted contracts

The conditions surrounding the

implementation of assisted contracts,

which are more widely-used in France

than in other European countries, where

they have all but disappeared, have not

been conducive to obtaining satisfactory

results in terms of long-term integra-

tion in the labour market. This is parti-

cularly noticeable in the case of assisted

contracts in the non-commercial sector,

where less than half result in integration

and where certain assessments show

that they can even reduce the indivi-

dual’s chances of later securing perma-

nent employment in some cases. There

are several reasons for these mediocre

results, including inadequate targeting,

very short contract durations and insuf-

ficient support and training for benefi-

ciaries.

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

Cour des comptes

Policies that are not targeted

enough towards populations

in need

The difficulties relating to the targe-

ting of labour and professional training

policy systems are not a new phenome-

non; indeed, professional training initia-

tives struggle to reach those that need

them the most. The same was true of

the reliance upon professional training

contracts and outplacement schemes in

the wake of the crisis.

An imbalance in professio-

nal training initiatives

Professional training in France

attracts a considerable amount of fun-

ding, totalling over

€

31bn, that is 1.6%

of the GDP, nearly half of which is

accounted for in benefit payments for

trainees. This initiative does, however,

benefit various segments of the popula-

tion in very different ways and to diffe-

rent extents. It also tends to reproduce,

and even amplify, the inequalities

brought about by the way in which the

labour market works. Indeed, the availa-

ble data suggests that on-going profes-

sional training is more beneficial to bet-

ter-trained employees, whilst it is the

lower-skilled workers that are at the

highest risk of unemployment.

The efforts made with regards to

training are particularly insufficient in

the case of job-seekers, among whom

the level of access to training is dis-

tinctly lower than that of employees

currently in employment. Indeed, accor-

ding to the INSEE’s 2011 employment

survey, the level of access to training

among the unemployed is believed to be

around a third lower than that of those

currently in employment.

Ultimately, the likelihood of benefi-

ting from training in France increases in

accordance with the individual’s initial

qualification and the size of the com-

pany

and

decreases

with

age.

Furthermore, employees currently in

employment benefit to a far greater

extent from training than do job-see-

kers. This inequality in the access to pro-

fessional training questions the ability of

our system to offer training for those

who need it most.

Increased difficulty in tar-

geting schemes in the wake

of the crisis

The rise in unemployment has resul-

ted in increasing competition when it

comes to accessing the various systems

in place, which has in turn had an affect

on the profile of their beneficiaries, drif-

ting sometimes significantly from the

Policies that are not targeted enough towards

populations in need

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

original target audience. Such problems

have been observed at all levels of

labour policy, with regards to both inte-

gration and reintegration into the labour

market.

Indeed, assisted contracts and pro-

fessional training contracts, that is

employment contracts that incorporate

a sandwich training course, have not

been targeted enough at those with

fewer qualifications, contrary to the

objectives sought by the government

and social partners. With regards to pro-

fessional training contracts, the propor-

tion of less qualified citizens among

beneficiaries of this initiative was in

constant decline between 2009 and

2011, whereas that of higher education

graduates increased by 60% over the

same period.

Indeed, certain job-seeker outplace-

ment schemes showed the same lack of

targeting. Consequently, professional

transition contracts (CTPs) and perso-

nal outplacement agreements (CRPs)

made provision for offering employees

who had been made redundant for eco-

nomic reasons an increased benefit pay-

ment and improved access to training.

These schemes (which were merged into

a single system, the CSP (‘professional

support contract’), in 2011), required

significant means that were mobilised to

help the population concerned, despite

the fact that there was no guarantee that

all of its members were in a position

that fully justified these specific efforts.

Indeed, not all of those made redundant

for economic reasons are necessarily the

most vulnerable in terms of the labour

market. It is sometimes the case with

employment protection plans (PSE),

particularly those involving a voluntary

aspect, which is common in large com-

panies, that a significant proportion of

those made redundant have qualifica-

tions and experience which make it no

more difficult to outplace them than the

average job-seeker. Conversely, those

employees coming to the end of their

fixed-term contracts or temporary pla-

cements will include a number of low-

skilled workers for whom access to a

scheme such as the CSP (‘professional

support contract’) would be useful and

justified but who cannot benefit from

such schemes due to the current state of

the legislation.

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

Cour des comptes

A complex and insufficiently

coordinated representative

public governance system

The number of players involved in

labour and professional training policy

is particularly significant. Initiatives led

by the State, regional authorities, social

partners and their various agencies (such

as the

Pôle Emploi

job centre service,

the OPCA, etc.) all operate concurrently

without any real coordination.

A large number of players

Whilst the State plays a decisive role

in driving labour policy, ongoing profes-

sional training policy is determined by

social partners, in conjunction with the

extended powers the regions have at

their disposal and the rights held by the

State in this domain. This overlapping

of powers results in the increase of

control and coordination structures

relating to the issues of employment

and professional training at local level.

The

Pôle Emploi

regional directorate in

Ile-de-France, for example, revealed that

it was part of 13 coordinating bodies of

this kind.

This proliferation of policy centres

certainly does not make it easy to intro-

duce policies aimed specifically at the

labour market, which would require a

certain unity with regards to the mana-

gement of the various players involved.

Current reflection on decentralisation

must take into account the need to dras-

tically simplify this complex system so

as to make way for both tighter gover-

nance and the necessary involvement of

players in the process.

The social investment fund:

an incomplete

attempt at coordinating the

State and the social part-

ners

The creation of a social investment

fund (FISO) was announced at the

social summit held on 18 February 2009

and was designed ‘to coordinate efforts

to boost employment and professional

training

consolidating

various

sources of funding from both the State

and social partners, with each maintai-

ning full responsibility for their own

funding’.

This system failed to produce the

desired results. The equality of funding

between the State and social partners

that was originally announced was never

reached, the FISO having instead prima-

rily served as means of ‘labelling’ finan-

cial resources allocated to employment

as part of the 2009-2010 French econo-

A complex and insufficiently coordinated

representative public governance system

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

mic recovery plan. The existence of the

FISO steering committee, which was

intended to enable representatives of

the State and of the relevant social part-

ners to monitor the way in which these

funds were used, was very fleeting and

the committee ceased to meet after little

more than a year after it was introduced.

Although the coordination resulting

from the creation of the FISO was

more effective at local level than at

national level, this system ultimately had

a very limited impact and appears to be

something of an incomplete attempt at

better structuring the means at the dis-

posal of social partners and of the State.

The

Fonds Paritaire de

Sécurisation des Parcours

Professionnels

(‘Joint

Career Security Fund’,

FPSPP):

ambitious plans but still

some operational flaws

The FPSPP was born as a result of

the national inter-professional agree-

ment of 7 January 2009 and the law of

24 November 2009 and represents a

major institutional innovation in the

field of ongoing professional training.

Its ambitious plans include the follo-

wing:

- to better target professional trai-

ning towards less qualified or more vul-

nerable employees and job-seekers with

a view to making professional training a

means of securing their professional

pathways ;

- to make the entire professional

training funding system more transpa-

rent;

- to encourage joint funding bet-

ween the State, social partners and

regional authorities.

The results have failed to reach ini-

tial expectations:

- with regards to co-funded initia-

tives, the imbalance between commit-

ments, payments and certified achieve-

ments underlines the fragile nature of

the system, the limited absorption capa-

city of project sponsor and the malad-

justment of the control system; clearly,

the contribution of ESF credits brought

about the need to introduce a series of

very strict control procedures which lar-

gely

exceeded

the

administrative

resources of the FPSPP, resulting in

significant difficulties in terms of pro-

ject management;

- the absence of regional authorities

in calls for proposals, despite the fact

that the law permits this possibility, limi-

ted the resources available to the FPSPP

for the purposes of achieving the ambi-

tious objectives it had been set.

Conclusion

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

e present report highlights the weaknesses of the French contingency plan for the

labour market, many of which are long-standing, and which were underlined by

the crisis that broke out in 2008. Consequently, despite the various reforms that have

taken place over the past few years, this system is still very poorly adapted to a context of

consistently high unemployment.

The Cour would like to draw the attention of all of the players concerned, namely the

State, regional authorities and social partners, to the need for change in the way labour

market policy is made. Given the unprecedented nature of the situation, traditional solu-

tions are no longer appropriate and changes need to made with regards to both the systems

themselves and the way in which they are managed by the various players involved in

labour and professional training policy.

With this in mind, the recommendations of the Cour are intended to improve the

‘resilience’ of the labour market in order to limit the economic and social cost of the cur-

rent crisis as much as possible.

Recommendations

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

With regards to the unemploy-

ment insurance system:

–

to review all of the factors that

would enable the financial situation of

the unemployment insurance system

to be re-evaluated, paying particular

attention to the following aspects:

- reviewing the benefit rules of

Appendices 8 and 10 with a view to

significantly reducing the system’s defi-

cit, notably by distinguishing the rules

applicable to stage technicians from

those that apply to artists;

- replacing the current flat contri-

bution rate with an increased rate for

those on limited-term contracts, thus

increasing the contributions payable by

those employers who use these types

of contract (fixed-term and tempo-

rary) the most;

- introducing a diminishing unem-

ployment insurance benefit replace-

ment rate for the highest levels of

benefit payments, as is the case in most

European countries.

–

to increase incentives to return

to work:

- encouraging geographical mobi-

lity or a reduction in salary in the event

that this is a key factor in the indivi-

dual’s re-entering the workplace;

- withdrawing the different forms

of outplacement support offered,

given the limited number of beneficia-

ries and the need to limit the number

of systems designed to achieve similar

objectives;

- re-examining the benefit rules

applicable to those working short-time

hours;

- simplifying the systems designed

to encourage people to return to work

(employment bonus, earned income

supplement, active employment) and

striving to achieve a better balance bet-

ween the financial value of such incen-

tives and the unemployment insurance

benefit replacement rate at around the

minimum wage.

–

to assess the effects of restructu-

ring the unemployment benefits sys-

tem to simultaneously incorporate a

platform based on social welfare and a

level devoted to unemployment insu-

rance. This assessment should focus

on the financial consequences of such

restructuring and the ways in which it

might be used to support faster outpla-

cement.

–

To improve coherence among

the benefits paid to job-seekers:

- improving the links between the

benefits paid out by unemployment

insurance and social welfare benefits

(allocation of specific forms of social

welfare benefits and basic earned

income supplement) and optimising

the exchange of physico-financial

information between the

Pôle Emploi

UNEDIC and the State’s employment

departments in order to achieve this;

- simplifying the welfare benefits

paid to job-seekers with a view to

more accurately taking into account

the situations of those who do not

currently have access to any form the-

reof.

Recommendations

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

With regards to short-time wor-

king

–

to merge the two systems which

currently co-exist (long-term part-time

employment and ‘traditional’ short-

time working);

–

in the wake of such simplifica-

tion, to re-examine the suitability of

the economic balance of the French

short-time working system, which is

currently

favourable

employees and less appealing to

employers than it is in other countries.

With regards to the general features

of assisted contracts

–

to review the balance between

contracts in the commercial sector and

those in the non-commercial sector in

favour of the former, except in the

event

that

the

non-commercial

contract in question is designed to pave

the way for integration at a later date;

–

to reserve access to assisted

contracts exclusively to beneficiaries

who cannot be directed towards sys-

tems which appear to have better-foun-

ded success.

With regards to training for job-

seekers

–

to reflect upon the way in which

training requirements are organised

and the support provided for job-see-

kers entering training: drawing on the

expertise of specialist advisers and

structuring short and long-term trai-

ning towards qualification without

losing sight of the job in question ;

–

to direct the

Pôle Emploi

profes-

sional training offering towards priority

audiences, as provided for in the State-

Pôle

Emploi-UNEDIC

tripartite

agreement signed in 2011;

–

to offer target audiences a series

of robust, high-performance support

services;

With regards to the targeting of

assisted contracts

–

to reserve contracts for those

with a low initial level of qualification

in order to avoid a situation whereby

better-trained individuals who could

find other means of accessing the job

market are evicting less qualified

potential beneficiaries;

–

to systematically combine the

execution of a contract with training

that goes beyond merely adjusting the

individual to the position;

–

to adapt the help available to

reflect the quality of the training outli-

ned in the contract;

–

to maintain assisted contracts for

a sufficient period of time (over

1 year), particularly where the benefi-

ciaries in question are audiences that

are distanced from the labour market;

–

in return for this long-term main-

tenance of contracts, to ensure that the

advisor verifies, on a regular basis, that

the employer is fulfilling their obliga-

tions with regards to training and sup-

port;

Recommendations

Summary

of the Public Thematic Report produced by the Cour des Comptes

With regards to professional trai-

ning contracts

–

to withdraw ineffective lump-

sum amounts paid by the

Pôle Emploi

so as to direct professional training

contracts at those with the fewest qua-

lifications;

–

to implement the Aims and

Means Contracts (COMs) that exist

between the State and the OPCA for

the purposes of directing the funding

they

provide

towards

priority

audiences;

With regards to professional sup-

port contracts

–

to determine access to the pro-

fessional support contract not based

on a factor relating to the beneficiary’s

legal status but rather on an assess-

ment of their distance from the labour

market;

–

to incorporate training into a

career plan, combining long and short

training courses which require the

beneficiary to play a significant role in

the development of their own career

plan and constructive collaboration

with the body responsible for suppor-

ting them.

With regards to the capacities of

the various players involved and the

coordination thereof

–

to clarify, with regards to the new

stage in the decentralisation process,

the actual powers of the various

regions and other players in the

employment and training sectors by

limiting, wherever possible, situations

in which the powers of a particular

body might be limited by co-funding

or joint decision-making procedures ;

–

to simplify and improve the effi-

ciency of the bodies responsible for

coordinating players at local level by

specifying the prerogatives of the

senior manager responsible for both

professional training and labour policy.

With regards to the

Fonds Paritaire

Sécurisation

des

Parcours

Professionnels

(‘Joint Career security

Fund’) and allocating a proportion of

professional training funds to training

job-seekers

–

to take the negotiation of the

2013-2015 framework agreement bet-

ween the State and the FPSPP as an

opportunity to encourage the fund to

undertake initiatives that are coordina-

ted with those carried out by the

regions by means of FPSPP-Regional

council agreements, as provided for by

the agreement and the law which led to

the creation of the fund;

–

in light of this same agree-

ment, to re-examine the relevance of

resorting to the European Social Fund

to provide the funding allocated by the

State to the

Fonds Paritaire de

Sécurisation

des

Parcours

Professionnels

;

–

to improve the efficiency and

transparency of the way in which the

fund is managed by putting in place

the necessary procedures to allow the

efficient use of the funds by project

owners to be verified and monitored in

real time.