FRANCE: Government tries to head off jobless unrest

Youth unemployment is soaring in France and new graduates are not spared - although predictably they are being hit less hard than young people with fewer or no qualifications. Aware of rising youth unrest, President Nicolas Sarkozy has promised training programmes and plans to subsidise employers who hire young people. He has also set up a commission to recommend policies to support youth, including on job creation, which is due to report this month.

The latest unemployment figures, announced in February, showed a month's increase of nearly 80,000 jobless, following January's rise of 90,000. France has a total of 2.8 million unemployed, 19% more than a year ago. As employers lay off workers the young are hit disproportionately hardest, as they are the ones most likely to be employed on temporary and short-term contracts and are therefore the first to go.

Martin Hirsch, head of the commission on youth, said unemployment among the young increased twice as quickly as the rest of the population. Hirsch estimated the number of under-26-year-olds out of work could rise by between 150,000 and 250,000 this year, to total 650,000 young unemployed.

An early indication of the financial crisis on graduates came last November from Afij, an association for promoting youth employment. It reported a fall during the previous month of 66% in the number of positions available for higher education graduates and first-job seekers, compared with a rise of 48% during the first half of the year.

Although evidence shows a higher education qualification protects against unemployment, even before the crisis a degree did not automatically guarantee a job. In 2007, one in five new graduates experienced unemployment, though data from previous years show the jobless rate traditionally falls substantially three years after graduation.

The economic crisis is also having an impact on recruitment of graduates from the elite grandes écoles which train students for managerial posts, and usually guarantee high-flying careers. An annual inquiry on the selective schools published in Expansion magazine this month reported: "This year, 73% of companies forecast they will employ fewer young graduates than in 2008, 24% about the same and 3% more; 30% say they will tighten up their recruitment criteria, 21% that they will 'substantially' reduce their recruitments."

Jacky Chatelain, Managing Director of Apec, the association for employment of managers, said 35,000 young graduates from the grandes écoles were expected to be recruited this year - but this represented 10,500 fewer than last year.

The Expansion inquiry included a poll of 1,388 graduates from grandes écoles. This found they were prepared to make concessions to land a job.

While last year many students had several job offers before they had finished their studies, two-thirds of those questioned were pessimistic about their chances of finding their first position, and more than 70% thought it would take between one and six months.

About 70% were prepared to go abroad if they found a job, 77% would accept an internship, short-term contract or temporary job if they could not find a permanent one, and 56% said they would accept a much lower salary than their qualifications should have entitled them to.

Many university students are now supporting strikes by lecturers and researchers against government reforms which have disrupted French universities for more than two months. Students have turned out in force to demonstrate, adding their own grievances and demands which reflect their disquiet about their uncertain futures, especially job prospects.

The biggest students' union, Unef, said that faced with the economic crisis the government had a duty to protect young people from rising unemployment: "The government must take notice of the deep discontent which is being expressed in universities, and respond to it quickly," the union said.

Warned of an explosion in youth unemployment and rising unrest among the young, Sarkozy has promised action. In recent speeches he has stressed that more must be done for the young who, he said, "are undeniably the first victims of the crisis".

He has promised to expand schemes designed to facilitate employment, through incentives to employers and through training, by widening access to education 'en alternance' - combining training at university or other educational institutions and in the workplace - and via apprenticeships, which include professional licences (bachelors equivalent) and masters degrees, and engineering diplomas.

Meanwhile, the commission for youth policies chaired by Martin Hirsch, high commissioner for action against poverty, started work in early March to find solutions to problems affecting the young.

Hirsch's commission is due to report in mid-April and is considering at least three ideas. First, the government would pay all training expenses for employees in private companies for two years, estimated at EUR1.5 billion for 100,000 young workers. The costs would be recuperated during the following three to five years through increased employers' social charges.

Second, training for the health and social sectors would be given advance funding to meet future recruitment needs. Hirsch pointed out that "we need 30,000 nurses a year, while only 20,000 are graduating".

Third, a 'civic service' scheme would pay young people for a year to take on jobs in the 'public interest'. This appears similar to a youth employment scheme introduced by the socialist government between 1997 and 2002. This recruited thousands of young people with minimum baccalauréat qualifications to be classroom assistants and other public sector auxiliaries. But despite its success, the scheme was abolished by the succeeding government.

jane.marshall@uw-news.com