Sarkozy’s ‘emergency’ plan for jobs

The head of State met with seven cabinet members, leaders of five unions, and three business organisations on Wednesday in Paris for a highly publicised ‘Crisis Summit’. What he emerged with was a 430-million euro plan to pull France back from its disastrous unemployment level of 9.7 per cent.

Speaking to media after the meeting, Sarkozy said that he would announce more structural proposals at the end of the month, however for now he claims to have derived a plan to make French labour cheaper and more flexible.

The President conceded that the cost of labour has risen faster in France than Germany, and “a large part of the difference comes from the charges that weigh on salaries.” But he gave no proposals at Wednesday’s announcement on how much of these labour charges he plans to shift, or how the gap in social security would be filled.

Also part of his emergency jobs package is a plan to encourage employers to maintain staff numbers even during down time. Part-time employees should be encouraged to accept fewer working hours in return for continued employment, while the government will help supplement the wages. This is expected to cost around 100 million euros.

To get more younger people into the labour market, Sarkozy wants to better promote its current apprenticeships scheme, which gives employers six months of no charges for employees under 26 years of age.

Whilst appeasing unions, these measures are pretty lacklustre. What did come as a surprise though was Sarkozy’s announcement of an “unprecedented level of training” for the long-term unemployed (two years plus). Gérard Larcher, former Minister of Labour, has been charged with a “mission to deliver in two months the foundation for a radical reform of vocational training.” Sarkozy says the current system has “totally failed”, with less than 10 per cent of those unemployed in France receiving training.

‘Radical reform’ will involve the whole spectre of training, including universities, with the ultimate goal that “at the end, everyone is led to accept the job which they are offered,” warned Sarkozy. This will cost the government 150 million euros.

Meanwhile, job centres, which are struggling to cope with rising unemployment, will be strengthened with 1,000 additional jobs, amounting to 39 million euros.

In the third quarter of 2011, the PACA region had the third highest unemployment levels in the country at 11 per cent. Langedoc-Roussillon was first with 12.9 per cent, and Nord-Pas-de-Calais second at 12.6. Breaking it down further, Alpes-Maritimes has 9.3 per cent overall unemployment and the Var 10.6 per cent - higher than the national average.

The President will make a definitive announcement at the end of the month after consultation with parliament. He will then reveal how the government plans to finance the gap in social security, and whether it will come from a general tax increase for consumers.

Cassandra Tanti