The Success of Apprenticeships

23Apprenticeship Reform: An Asset for Renewing Our Social Model

23.1. Introduction

In the second quarter of 2017, the French government launched the second phase, “securing” of the labor market reforms announced in the presidential program, and focusing on three main topics: apprenticeships for the youngest, continuing vocational training and the unemployment insurance scheme.

It is in this context that, by the letter of October 10, 2017, the Minister of Labor wished to organize a consultation, bringing together all apprenticeship stakeholders with the Minister of National Education and the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.

The consultation’s roadmap was clear: identify significant areas for improvement so that an apprenticeship becomes a path to excellence for the benefit of all young people and companies. The objective of this consultation was therefore to bring together all the apprenticeship stakeholders and listen to their points of view in all their convergences and divergences, in order to draw up an exhaustive diagnosis and propose significant avenues for improvement, as set out in a report submitted to the government on January 30, 2018.

Starting from the observation that the number of apprentices in France has stagnated for years, and even decreased for levels V and IV, one of the first objectives of this reform was, naturally, to develop apprenticeships, which are a particularly effective way of integrating young people into the labor market, ...