does state aid target the right training?

Long confined to the training of butchers, mechanics or hairdressers, work-study programs are exploding in higher education. But behind this success, the bill becomes uncontrollable for the State, according to the Court of Auditors. Does public money fund good training? The number of work-study students has increased from 438,000 to 798,000 in five years. But this increase mainly benefits the most qualified, and not the populations furthest from employment. Bac and CAP levels welcome only 30% more students, against +100% for Bac +2 to Bac +5.

“The sharp increase in learning is, at 90%, due to Bac +3, Bac +4, Bac +5, so young people who were still at university, who were in training and who did not were not guaranteed to find a job at the end of their training, but there was a very high probability of finding one”Explain Éric Heyer, economist at theFrench Observatory of Economic Situations (OFCE). The bill flies away, because the State must pay 8,070 euros per work-study to schools on average, and 8,000 euros to companies that host a work-study student. The deficit is expected to reach 5.9 billion euros in 2022. An unacceptable expense for the Court of Auditors, which points in a report “inadequate funding”a “worrying accounting deficit” and an “financial impasse”.