Apprenticeship is one of the solutions for entering the labor market. The young person, between 16 and 29 years old, alternates theoretical courses at school, in Centers for apprentices, CFAs, and a reception in a company, to acquire technical skills.
However, our country has long been lagging behind: apprenticeship had a bad press, but the 2018 reform removed a number of rigidities. For example, it’s much easier for a company director to take on an apprentice, you can sign an apprenticeship contract at any time during the year, whereas before, you had to stick to the school calendar . Apprenticeship has become a solution for many young people: in 2020, there were more than 520,000 contracts signed; last year, nearly 720,000. We expect 900,000 this year, unheard of in France.
It is true that these good figures contribute to the fall in youth unemployment – today around 16%, i.e. a level which has never been so low since the 1980s. When they are in apprenticeship, young people are not no longer counted as job seekers. Even if the young people have a work contract and receive a salary – the amount depends on the age of the young person, his level of studies – they are engaged in long training.
These are still very special jobs because apprenticeship is still highly subsidized. This system is boosted by bonuses: the State pays 5,000 euros to a company that takes on an apprentice under the age of 18, 8,000 euros beyond. There is therefore certainly a substitution effect: companies prefer to take young people on apprenticeships rather than on conventional fixed-term or permanent contracts because they receive the bonuses. According to researchers, this crowding out effect is particularly marked for the most qualified apprentices.
Still, learning has a cost for the state. If it remains difficult to give a precise figure given the number of aids, we can count on nearly five billion euros per year, taken from the recovery plan “1 young person, 1 solution”.
Hence the question: is it a cost or an investment? According to a study by Dares, attached to the Ministry of Labor, apprenticeship remains a very good passport to employment: nearly seven out of 10 apprentices find a job in the semester following their training.