Law against Exclusion

A framework bill on fighting all forms of social exclusion - which includes provisions on job creation - was passed by France's National Assembly in May 1998, with Senate approval planned for July. This article outlines the main changes to the draft legislation since it was passed at cabinet level in March 1998.

A framework bill on combating all forms of social exclusion was presented to the cabinet on 25 March 1998, three weeks after the latter's adoption of a three-year action plan for preventing and combating social exclusion. The content of the bill was first discussed on 5 May in the National Assembly, and it was passed by 301 votes to 121, on Wednesday 20 May. The bill was to be studied by the Senate in the second fortnight of June, with its passage through that house planned for July 1998.

The bill contains various measures on job creation, housing, debt, health, minimum benefits and education. It takes pride of place in a broader plan estimated to be worth FRF 51 billion over three years, to be supplemented, at the end of 1998, by another plan to introduce universal sickness cover.

Following a government proposal, a special programme, called Trace (trajectoire d'accès à l'emploi - "career path access to employment") is to be created. Between now and 2000, the plan will provide for individualised monitoring of the reintegration into the labour market of 60,000 young people experiencing serious difficulty. The path towards this reintegration will consist of an 18-month combination of work, placements and training. Those benefiting from the programme will be paid for by the Youth Aid Fund (Fond d'aide aux jeunes, FAJ). This measure has been costed at FRF 5.1 billion over three years.

The "employment solidarity contracts" scheme (Contrats emploi-solidarité, CES), will be retargeted at those most in need (long-term unemployed people, disabled people and young people experiencing difficulty). Five-year "consolidated employment contracts" (Contrats emploi consolidés, CEC) should enable these categories of job-seeker to gain direct access to work, without first going through a CES, as was previously the case. The total number of CEC should reach 200,000 by the year 2000, and the total cost of this measure over three years will be FRF 8.5 billion. Moreover, until 31 December 2000, the "training-for-skills" contracts (contrats de qualification) hitherto reserved for the under-25s will be accessible "on a trial basis" to older jobseekers. There will be 40,000 new entrants into the labour market directly due to this measure, which will cost 2.2 billion FRF. Finally, and within still-to-be-defined limits, it will be possible, in certain cases, to receive minimum social benefits even while the recipient is working.

EMP/SKILLS - Skills and Employability Department