In a joint press release, Carole Delga, president of the Regions of France and the Occitanie region, François Bonneau, president of the Centre-Val de Loire region, and Joël Fourny, president of CMA France, denounce "the government's recent decisions in matters of of regulation of expenditure in favor of apprenticeship" which according to them "threaten the financing of these training courses" from CAP level to baccalaureate level.
Approved last September by decree, with the objective of "reducing the overall funding of apprenticeship contracts by 5%", the impact of these decisions would be "much greater", according to the press release, with an "average reduction of 7,4 .8% and even XNUMX% for CAPs.
A situation that the signatories consider “disastrous” for the training sections “which will no longer be financially balanced” and which could be forced to close “in the very short term”.
The press release also calls on the government to open the consultation which had been announced by the former Minister for Vocational Education and Training, Carole Grandjean, during the Apprenticeship Conference organized in November 2023 by CMA, which does not has still not been launched and which should lead to "structural reform".
Apprenticeship is the "most effective system for sustainable integration for these first qualification levels", continues the text, emphasizing its role in rural areas and the political districts of the city.
CMA presented itself in January as "the leading trainer in France with 112.500 apprentices in initial training and 130.000 business leaders in continuing training in 2023" and claimed an "excellent" integration rate with "80% of apprentices finding employment seven months after graduation and one in two who will become their own boss.”
For comparison, 67% of CAP to BTS level apprentices are in paid employment after leaving studies, according to the Ministry of Labor.
A little less than 860.000 apprenticeship contracts were signed in 2023, according to the Elysée, an increase of 2,8% over one year. A figure which is close to the million apprentices desired by the government in 2027.
But this significant increase in the number of apprentices - there were 320.000 to sign a contract in 2018 - mainly concerned training in higher education and not those at CAP or baccalaureate level, which today represent 37% of the workforce. apprentices, compared to 75% ten years ago, according to the press release.
Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.