Thousands of young people deprived of jobs during their studies? This law will change the situation

Many students are in the dark because of a very recent government decision.

The decision fell like an ax. Suddenly and unexpectedly, with immediate effect, embarrassing thousands of young people. While the study choices for the next school year have been formulated and students are now awaiting responses from establishments, a new law comes into force and risks turning everything upside down for many of them, potentially forcing them to reconsider their initial plans.

Every year, nearly a million people work as part of their studies. We are not talking here about food jobs in a supermarket or in a café but about work-study jobs. This method of training allows you to combine teaching theory with practice within a company. Two types of work-study programs exist: the apprenticeship contract and the professionalization contract.

Their two main differences lie in the part devoted to school (more important in apprenticeships), as well as in the student’s remuneration (more important with a professionalization contract). Furthermore, apprenticeship is generally training allowing you to acquire the initial skills to practice a profession while professionalization completes initial training in a sector.

Hiring work-study is always a gamble and a cost for companies because the people they recruit are not always 100% present. To promote this type of employment, assistance had been put in place for employers. Recruiting under a professionalization contract allowed you to receive 6,000 euros, therefore amortizing hiring costs. However, this aid will stop, from this Wednesday 1^er May 2024, as part of the savings that the government must make. Only professionalization contracts are concerned. For learning, nothing changes.

This decision could force companies to change their approach regarding professional contract recruitment and hire less. Several employers’ voices were raised to denounce this choice of the State. Will they close the positions initially open? The vagueness remains.

In 2022 and 2023, just over 110,000 students will embark on a professionalization contract. While this method of training is already losing momentum (230,000 contracts were signed in 2018 when aid did not exist in this form), this could bury it permanently. On the other hand, 850,000 apprenticeship contracts were signed in 2023.