“Year after year, the development of work-study programs has proven itself, legitimizing more than ever the objective of one million apprentices per year.” In a press release published on December 30, Olivier Dussopt, then still Minister of Labor, announced that the aid of 6,000 euros for the hiring of a work-study student under a professionalization or apprenticeship contract would be renewed for the year 2024 This extension of a measure adopted in 2020 was then welcomed with relief by businesses.
This was without the budgetary slump in which the executive has found itself for several months now. In a hurry to tighten the screws on public finances, the government published a decree this Wednesday, May 1, which simply removes this financial support for professionalization contracts. A major move decided as part of the 10 billion euro savings plan unveiled in February by Bruno Le Maire. “This aid was put in place in an exceptional manner during Covid,” justifies the office of the Minister of Labor, Catherine Vautrin.
13% of work-study students
Intended for young people aged 16 to 25, but also for job seekers over 26, as well as beneficiaries of minimum social benefits, this work-study contract has as its main aim professional integration, when the apprenticeship contract rather targets obtaining a state diploma. Certainly professionalization contracts only represent 13% of the total – 120,998 in 2022, compared to 829,600 apprenticeship contracts -, however this decision goes against the high objectives set by Emmanuel Macron, namely one million apprentices per year in 2027. Especially since the breakthrough of the system already experienced a clear slowdown last year, going from an increase of 14.2% in 2022 to 2.9% in 2023, according to the figures unveiled by the Elysée at the beginning of the year.
The removal of the boost for professionalization contracts should thwart the plans of the Head of State. The number of work-study students could even fall this year for the first time since 2015. Businesses and employers have already stepped up to express their concerns. In higher education, there are fears that this budget cut will herald others. Is aid for apprenticeship contracts in the sights? “We won’t touch it in 2024,” we promise on rue de Grenelle, without committing to the future. It must be said that criticism of this mechanism, brought back into the saddle by Emmanuel Macron since 2018, has continued to multiply. In July 2023, the Court of Auditors threw a wrench in the pond, its report pointing out the “very high cost” of this policy, 16.8 billion euros in 2022. Once again, the government finds itself in an impasse . Between the million apprentices and the billions of euros to save, we will have to choose.