This is the story of a paradox, a “mystery” that has affected Seine-Saint-Denis for decades: why this department located at the gates of Paris remains mired in poverty when it has all the assets to take off ?
For a year, Agnès Audier, senior adviser with the Boston Consulting Group, interviewed a hundred people (public and private actors) on behalf of the Montaigne Institute, with the support of the American bank JPMorgan, in order to solve this enigma and try to get out of this spiral. In his report entitled “Seine-Saint-Denis: the battles of employment and integration” and published on Wednesday May 27, it draws up a severe observation: the institutions, prisoners of their political logics and of the narrow vision which they have of their respective competences, appear unable to think of common public policies, centered on the real needs of individuals, and continue to“Operate individually, as competitors”.
Result, the department “Stagnate”. “The examination of socio-economic indicators offers a disturbing picture”, alert the report. Despite significant disparities within it, the territory remains the poorest in mainland France, with a poverty rate of 28.6% in 2016, almost twice as high as that of Ile-de-France (15 , 7%).
“We cannot speak of abandonment of the State, we cannot say that nobody does nothing or that no means is mobilized. However, all the energy, efforts, money and attention given to these subjects fail to overcome the endemic difficulties, declares the rapporteur, specialist in digital and social issues. The 93 is however not a disaster area. “ It’s quite the opposite.
“Nonsense” and “inconsistencies”
The most populous department in the Ile-de-France region after Paris, with 1.6 million inhabitants, is also the youngest. Here, 30% of the population is under 20 years of age. Neighboring the capital, it hosts numerous headquarters for large companies (SNCF, Veolia, BNP Paribas, etc.) and benefits from numerous major projects (Grand Paris Express, Charles-de-Gaulle Express, Olympic Games, Grand University Hospital Complex Paris-Nord…): 20 billion euros of public investment is planned for the next fifteen years.
Except that this dynamism benefits little the inhabitants. If the unemployment rate of Séquano-Dionysiens exceeds 10% of the active population for twenty years, it is not however “Catastrophic”, assures Agnès Audier. But it is young people who suffer the most: 28% of 18 to 24 year olds are neither employed nor trained, which is 13 points more than in Hauts-de-Seine for example.
You have 61.51% of this article to read. The suite is reserved for subscribers.
–
