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1. The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period November 2004 to January 2007, which was received in August 2008. It also notes the attached observations provided by the General Confederation of Labour–Force Ouvrière (CGT–FO), which considers that placing greater responsibility on the unemployed through the introduction of a system of graduated sanctions places the responsibility on employees for their unemployment despite the fact that most are dismissed as a consequence of the economic situation of the enterprise. The CGT–FO also points out that the references made in the report to the “contract for new employment” (CNE) disregard the developments which led to the repeal of the CNE and the fact that the CNE would never have worked from the viewpoint of job creation. The Committee refers to its observation on the Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158), and the other matters raised in the present observation. It hopes that the Government will provide data in its next report providing a basis for an evaluation of the employment situation and its development over the period under consideration and the measurement of the impact on employment of the policies pursued and the principal active measures adopted.

2. Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Convention. Labour market trends and active employment policy. The Committee notes that, during the period under consideration, positive results were achieved in relation to the employment rate, which experienced a regular rise between mid-2006 and the end of 2007 (increasing from 63.6 per cent in 2005 to 64.3 per cent in 2007, according to the information published in June 2008 by the Directorate of Dissemination and Research, Studies and Statistics (DARES)). The unemployment rate has fallen slightly to around 8.5 per cent in 2006 and 8 per cent in 2007. The Government recalls in its report that the French employment strategy is defined in the context of the European Employment Strategy and particularly in the national reform programme 2005–08 “For social growth”. In this context, the Government is pursuing a strategy whereby employment development will remain the principal objective of Government action, with employment being placed at the centre of the fiscal and social reforms that have been carried out in recent years. The Committee notes the adoption of Act No. 2007-1223 of 21 August 2007 to promote work, employment and purchasing power (TEPA), which envisages several specific mechanisms intended to act on both the supply and demand for labour: a lowering of social contributions for enterprises which increase the hours of work of their employees, a reduction in social contributions and, for workers, exemption from income tax in respect of the overtime hours performed. With a view to the implementation of the national interoccupational agreement of 11 January 2008, Act No. 2008-596 of 25 June 2008 to modernize the labour market introduces amendments to the Labour Code designed to allow greater flexibility in the employment relationship while at the same time offering employed persons greater security by providing them with new safeguards. In this respect, the Committee invites the Government to include in its next report an evaluation of the impact of the TEPA Act and the amendments to the Labour Code on the employment situation, and to indicate the problems encountered and the lessons to be drawn from the experience of the social partners with regard to their application.

3. Article 1, paragraph 2. Youth employment. In its previous comments, the Committee invited the Government to provide information on the results achieved through the measures taken to promote decent employment for young persons. In its report, the Government indicates that the vocational and social integration of young persons is at the heart of the priorities set out in the emergency employment plan. Youth employment experienced a slight improvement as a result of the emergency employment measures taken in the autumn of 2006, and the youth unemployment rate fell from 21.3 per cent in 2004 to 19.3 per cent in 2007. According to the DARES, one economically active young person out of five was unemployed; young persons are frequently outside the labour market, as many of them pursue studies without working (only one third of young persons are economically active). Among the measures taken to promote youth employment, the Government refers to the reform of the mechanism for “support for the employment of young persons in enterprises”, intended to allow a broader application of assisted contracts for lower skilled and unskilled young persons so that such contracts can be of benefit to young persons who are distant from employment and likely to be affected by discrimination, and particularly those living in sensitive urban areas. For young persons who work, the TEPA Act envisages exemption from income tax. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to provide an overall evaluation in its next report of the results of the measures adopted to combat youth unemployment, particularly for young persons in sensitive urban areas and underprivileged regions, and those without qualifications, with a view to their integration into active life.

4. Employment of older workers. In its previous comments, the Committee also invited the Government to provide information on the results achieved by the measures adopted to promote the continued employment and reintegration into the labour market of older workers. The DARES indicates that the employment rate of persons aged 55 to 64 years increased (by 1.4 points) between 2005 and 2007, with this rise being explained by the arrival into this age category of generations of women who have a higher activity rate than their predecessors. In its report, the Government refers to the implementation of the national interoccupational agreement of 13 October 2005 and the concerted national plan of action for the employment of older workers in 2006–10. This plan of action is intended to increase the employment rate of workers between the ages of 55 and 64 years so as to achieve an employment rate of 50 per cent by 2010. This increase in the employment rate should be achieved by the combined effect of the financial incentives established to push back the age of cessation of work and the measures adopted to facilitate the maintenance in and return to employment of older workers, and to improve the organization of the latter years of their career. In its observations, the CGT–FO indicates that the concerted national plan of action has not achieved the expected results and that new measures promoting the active management of older workers in enterprises and branches of activity are envisaged at the end of 2008. The Committee hopes that the next report will contain updated information on the results achieved by the measures adopted for older workers.

5. Education and training policies. The Government refers in its report to the continued reform of apprenticeships that has been undertaken since 2002 and the reform of the vocational training system. These reforms have been pursued in collaboration with the regions and employers’ and workers’ organizations. In its comments, the CGT–FO refers to measures allowing the transfer from one enterprise to another of the hours of individual entitlement to training envisaged in the interoccupational agreement of 11 January 2008. The Committee refers to its observation on the application of the Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No. 142), and invites the Government to provide information on the measures adopted to coordinate education and training policies with employment.

6. Participation of the social partners in the preparation and formulation of policies. In reply to the previous comments concerning the participation of representatives of the persons affected in the preparation and follow-up of employment policies, the Government describes in its report the mandate and provides details on the dialogue and consultation bodies, with emphasis on the adoption of Act No 2007-130 on the modernization of social dialogue of 31 January 2007. The Committee notes that section 1 of the Act provides that any draft reform envisaged by the Government which relates to individual and collective labour relationships, employment and vocational training and to fields covered by national and interoccupational collective bargaining shall be the subject of prior dialogue with the representative organizations of employed persons and employers at the national and interoccupational levels with a view to the possible opening of such negotiations. The Committee invites the Government to provide examples in its next report of the manner in which prior dialogue with the social partners has been held in the field of employment policy. It hopes that the report will also provide a basis for examining the manner in which the views and experience of the representatives of the persons affected have been taken into account in the formulation of employment policy. Finally, the Government is requested to report on the manner in which employers’ and workers’ organizations collaborated in and assisted in securing support for the measures adopted to promote full and productive employment, as required by Article 3 of the Convention.