What reasonable mind could want to criticize learning? On paper, this device seems to have only advantages. The promise of an opening of higher education to all, and in particular to the most precarious. A partial response to the evil of the century, youth unemployment, still twice as high as that of the general population. Finally, a training supposed to be more complete, shared between the theoretical knowledge of the school and the concrete practice in the world of work. Arguments hammered out by Emmanuel Macron since coming to power. From 2018, the law “to choose your professional future” simplifies the administrative procedures for recruiting an apprentice for the employer, and access to state aid. The first results are more than encouraging, increasing the number of new apprenticeship contracts from 321,000 in 2018 to 369,000 in 2019.
But it is especially from 2020 that the figures jump, following the implementation of exceptional assistance for hiring an apprentice. Each company is then paid 5,000 to 8,000 euros in the first year, aid amounting to 6,000 euros for all since 2023. The results are immediate and spectacular: 532,000 new contracts signed in 2020, 736,000 new contracts signed in 2021, and 837,000 in 2022. Emmanuel Macron has a new objective: to reach one million apprentices by 2027. Given the dynamics, it is difficult to imagine this scenario not occurring. But at what cost ?
“A cost for the State of 22 billion euros in 2022”
The current system is now facing a major opponent: the Court of Auditors. In a report published in June 2022, the highest financial jurisdiction of the State had sounded the alarm on the “financial impasse” represented by learning in its current form. Rebelote on July 6: in a note sent to the Ministry of the Economythe magistrates of rue Cambon again pointed to “the very high cost” of learning aid, calling for “resize state support downwards”.
Public finances are indeed sticking out their tongues in the face of a system in full budgetary overheating. Since 2019, the operator France Skills has been responsible for regulating and financing the apprenticeship system. A budget that wants to be “solidarity”: its revenues must finance its expenses. On the side of the money that goes into the coffers of the operator, no change: France Skills is financed by the apprenticeship tax, paid by all companies on the basis of a percentage of their payroll. A budget which therefore remains very stable from year to year.
Expenses, for their part, have exploded. The multiplication of the number of apprentices has mechanically pulled up all the subsidies paid by France Skills to finance the work-study programme, in particular the almost full reimbursement of tuition fees. Thus, for three years, the holes in the budget of France Skills have been gaping: 4.6 billion euros in deficit in 2020, 2.9 billion euros in 2021. Faced with this situation, it is the State which regularly puts its hand in its pocket to absorb the losses of France Skills, through exceptional subsidies, amounting to 4 billion euros in 2022 alone.
In total, the Court of Auditors estimates that in 2022, the alternation policy would have cost nearly 16.8 billion euros to public finances. A colossal sum, which turns out to be underestimated according to Bruno Cochet, doctor in economics associated with the French Observatory of economic conditions, and also author of a very critical report vis-à-vis the current system. “According to my calculations, which also take into account the cost of the exemption from social charges, we arrive at a cost for the State of nearly 22 billion euros in 2022. It is obviously unsustainable”, comments the economist with L’Express. Amounts that raise all the more questions at a time when the 2024 budget should be marked by a reduction in public spending.
One in three jobs created
Despite this exorbitant amount, this apprenticeship reform seems in any case to have achieved the objectives it had set itself. According to the Court of Auditors, one in three job creations between 2019 and 2022 concerned apprenticeship employment (i.e. 400,000 jobs out of 1.2 million). “It is rather positive that there is dynamism around learning, it had been many years since this was no longer the case”, wants to be satisfied Aurélien Cadiou, president of the Association des Apprentis de France (Anaf).
But it is precisely the specific objectives of this reform, and in particular the establishment of exceptional aid, which raise questions. By subsidizing all companies recruiting an apprentice in the same way, regardless of the level of training, the age of the apprentice or the size of the company, the consequence was immediate: since 2018, it is in the tertiary education that we observe almost the entire increase in the number of apprentices.
However, this success is to be qualified. “In higher education, there is almost no difference between the professional integration of a student who is an apprentice or following an initial course. It is especially at baccalaureate and infrabac level that apprenticeship contributes to professional integration” , emphasizes Aurélien Cadiou. A finding shared by all the studies on the subject, and even… the Ministry of Labor itself, which recalls that “apprenticeship must remain a privileged training solution for the youngest and the first levels of qualification, because it constitutes a relevant and effective way of integration into sustainable employment”.
For the Court of Auditors, the current system thus represents “more aid to companies than aid for the professional integration of young people”. But at an excessive price: according to the study by Bruno Coquet for the OFCE, in 2022 alone, “nearly 8 billion euros [auraient été] spent for nothing”. In other words, with no impact on employment. An incomprehensible waste of public money, according to him. “In the whole history of subsidized jobs, nothing has ever been accompanied at this level. This is very strongly discouraged, because it creates massive windfall effects, especially in the commercial sector.
New drifts
This policy has been used by many companies to hire increasingly qualified workers, almost free of charge. It also made another big winner: private higher education, which now has nearly one in four students in France, the highest level ever reached. The 2018 reform thus completely opened up the regulations for the opening of Apprentice Training Centers (CFA), the school branch to which an apprentice student must be attached.
This objective has also been achieved: the number of CFAs has quadrupled over the past five years. Many new schools have been created in recent years, surfing on promising themes such as digital or the environment, and centering their training model on learning. So that in 2021, 35% of apprenticeship students in higher education were enrolled in these new vocational training courses, attached to the Ministry of Labor and not to the Ministry of Higher Education.
But this whole new sphere of higher education raises many questions. Little controlled, delivering diplomas with vague titles and not always recognized by the State, these establishments arouse more and more the attention of the public authorities. Out of 80 private establishments controlled by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF)56% were in a situation of anomaly with respect to the law in place, including more than 30% for misleading commercial practices.
“Among the new CFAs created since the 2018 reform, we have seen new excesses that we did not see before. Establishments that charge apprentices registration fees of up to 1,000 euros, which is illegal Others who charge disproportionate tuition fees to young people who have not been able to find a company, or who have had their contracts breached during the year. We are a long way from the initial philosophy of the ‘learning”, regrets Aurélien Cadiou, whose organization is nevertheless the first to praise the merits of alternation. However, it is the State which therefore indirectly pays the tuition fees of these establishments, including those that do not respect the law.
“End exceptional aid”
So, how to get out of this policy which is so costly for the State? For Bruno Coquet, no doubt: if it is indeed the exceptional bonus of 2020 which created such an imbalance, going back to it should make it possible to return to a balanced situation. “If you take away the bounty, you’ll keep those who use this device effectively, and remove the predators who take advantage of this boon.” Same observation for the Court of Auditors, which calls for “an end to the exceptional aid paid to employers of work-study students”, to return to a more progressive system, as before the Covid.
But the slightest announcement of the reduction of public investment in learning today makes people cringe, especially on the business side. Recently, it was the Chamber of Trades and Crafts which was alarmed by a 10% drop in the financing of apprenticeship contracts, a first solution suggested by France Skills to straighten out its accounts. Because a general reduction in aid to establishments could do more damage to some than to others. “When we ask the question of funding, we see that there is a problem in particular due to learning in higher education. But when we talk about solutions, we are talking about reducing aid for all sectors. However, CFAs at baccalaureate and infrabac level are far from generating large margins, because their operating costs are higher”, underlines Aurélien Cadiou.
What further nuance the objective of the million apprentices carried by Emmanuel Macron. “In the logic of my calculations, a million apprentices should cost the State 26 to 27 billion euros per year, of which nearly 10 billion have no impact on employment”, abounds Bruno Coquet. An observation in which Aurélien Cadiou finds himself: “If we wanted apprenticeship to have a real impact on the professional integration of young people, we would have to direct aid towards those who need it most. We cannot be satisfied with passing from 800,000 to a million apprentices if this increase only comes from higher education.”