Young hit hardest by crisis

At the CRIJ for example, which centralizes issues regarding training, employment and housing for young people, the officers report a steady stream of new applicants, many more than in previous years. In Nice alone, there are 20 per cent more registered unemployed youths than there were last year.

According to the Office of Employment, in late August there were 7,921 applicants in the Alpes-Maritimes under the age of 25, which is an increase of 38.4 per cent over the last year. The situation in the Var is only marginally better, with an increase of 25.8 per cent. With 10,000 youths in Provence, Alpes-Maritimes and Cote d’Azur “signing-on” in the past year, there now totals 46,739 young job seekers in the region overall (28 per cent of those unemployed).

Although economic activity has declined less in the Alpes-Maritimes than elsewhere in France (9.56 per cent compared to a national average of 20 per cent), the region’s young population have suffered the economic effects of the crisis most profoundly. Many of those searching for work are graduates trying to secure first jobs. However, opportunities are few and far between at present and previously big employers, for example the technology companies based in Sophia Antipolis, are making redundancies and cutting back on training schemes.

Youth unemployment is now deemed a matter of national urgency and just this week Nicholas Sarkozy announced new measures to help 17 to 25 year-olds into work. The government is to invest 500 million euros into the scheme, which will offer additional benefits to those living below the poverty line.