Alongside social negotiations on a “pact for life at work”, by the end of the year, Emmanuel Macron is counting on the transformation of Pôle emploi in France Travail to achieve full employment, i.e. a rate of unemployment around 5% in 2027 (compared to 7.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022). “The objective is to better understand and support unemployed people for a faster return to work and a reduction in recruitment difficulties”, summarized the High Commissioner for Employment, Thibaut Guilluy, who led for several months this prefiguration mission.
The implementation of France Travail will be done gradually by 2027 but its creation will be effective at the beginning of 2024 after a bill – which will also include the reform of the vocational high school – presented “by the summer”, according to the minister Labor, Olivier Dussopt. This renovated public employment service should allow Pôle emploi and all the actors (the local missions which will become France Travail jeunes, Cap emploi which will become France Travail handicap, as well as the communities, Caf, Maisons de l’emploi , associations, etc.) to operate in a network, with common methods for the reception of people and interconnected computer systems.
The starting point of the report is that of a system that has been operating “for too long in silos generating ‘holes in the racket’, ‘duplicates’ and ‘breaks in the course’ at all levels”. “Given the fragmentation of actors and procedures, we do not have the possibility of identifying all the people in need of an integration process or support. Only 40% of RSA recipients are registered with Pôle Emploi,” the report points out.
A contract of engagement
This registration with France Travail, which will be done via a digital portal or the network of physical counters of France Travail operators and its partners, would allow an initial diagnosis, with the aim of being quickly put in touch with a support referent. “to avoid answering the same questions 20 times” according to Thibaut Guilluy. “An RSA beneficiary waits 150 days between his registration with the Caf and his first support interview. We want to reduce this period to a maximum of one month, ”he explains.
Each person registered with France Travail will sign an employment contract at the start of their course. For RSA recipients, intensive support of 15 to 20 hours per week of integration, on the model of the youth employment contract, has begun to be tested in 18 departments. In the event of non-compliance with these commitments, the report proposes “more progressive and more effective” sanctions, with a “remobilization suspension” which would make it possible to suspend, then pay the allowance without loss if the course is resumed. According to the Court of Auditors, one out of two RSA beneficiaries does not currently sign a reciprocal commitment contract and the actions proposed, “very weak” (less than two per contract), hardly help the beneficiary “in a concrete way”. . “These activities can be company immersions, refresher courses, training or the removal of obstacles such as childcare (30% of RSA beneficiaries are single parents)”, explains Thibaut Guilluy.
Help companies recruit
This transformation will involve mobilizing 2.3 to 2.7 billion euros between 2024 and 2026, “the essential being human resources”. Although he did not want to give a figure on the recruitment of integration advisers, the High Commissioner noted “that the countries where the unemployment rates are the lowest, such as Germany, have one adviser for 100 people where we have one for 150”.
Another challenge is to help companies, especially VSEs, to recruit in each employment area. “Company teams, there are everywhere: at Pôle emploi, in consular chambers, vocational training operators, but there is no collective organization, lamented Thibaut Guilluy. This can have a big effect. When you visit 100 companies, you create ten more jobs. »
