Hiring discrimination: 4.000 test CVs sent by the government

"Today I am launching a massive campaign with the sending of 4.000 test CVs that respond to real job offers, in order to know concretely whether there are more or fewer difficulties depending on the sector of activity," she explained.

"Twenty sectors" of activity are targeted. Gender, first and last names and address will be tested in order to "know what we need to combat and succeed in measuring it accurately," she explained.

The minister recalled that "one in three French people over the last five years have suffered discrimination in employment: either at the time of hiring, or at the time of their career, based on their age, disability, origin, family name or address".

In a study conducted with the International Labour Observatory (ILO), the French Ombudsman highlighted last week the extent of discrimination experienced by employees both during the hiring process and throughout their careers. According to this research, "43% of the population believes that today in France, people are often treated unfavorably or discriminated against when looking for a job," and "52%" believe that they are "sometimes" treated this way.

The minister had indicated to AFP in May, when announcing this testing campaign, that the idea was that "we could, if necessary (...) change the law on the issue of sanctions against companies".

She had also mentioned the creation of "mechanisms comparable" to the gender equality index.