Replacement of Pôle emploi: what we know about the future France Travail

This text, which may still be modified after the consultations, follows a preliminary report by the High Commissioner for Employment, Thibaut Guilluy. The bill will be presented to the Council of Ministers in June before a first reading probably in the Senate. The various planned measures will be implemented between 2024 and 2026.

"The objective is to better understand and support unemployed people for a faster return to work", summed up Mr. Guilluy, a return today hampered by "a functioning in silos generating 'holes in the racket', ' duplicates' and 'breaks in route'".

France travail, a network and an operator

The draft bill provides for the creation of a "France Travail network", made up of the State, Pôle emploi, local missions (young people), Cap emploi (disabled people), local authorities, organizations and associations of integration, CAF, etc.

They will ensure the missions "of reception, orientation, accompaniment, training, integration, placement of people looking for a job or encountering social difficulties".

To this end, they will have to implement "common procedures and criteria" for registration and orientation; "a common base of services for the benefit of individuals and employers"; “common steering and evaluation indicators” and, essential condition, ensuring “the interoperability of their information systems”.

Pôle emploi will call itself France Travail and will be the chief operator of this network. All people without jobs - unemployed, young, disabled or RSA recipients - will have to register, whereas currently only 40% of RSA recipients are registered with Pôle Emploi.

This registration, which will be done via a digital portal or the network of physical counters of the operator and its partners, will allow an initial diagnosis with the aim of being quickly put in touch with a support referent.

A contract of engagement

Job seekers will be referred to the operator France Travail or its partners "according to their level of qualification, their situation with regard to employment, their aspirations, and the particular difficulties they encounter, particularly in terms of health, housing and childcare".

The objective of the support is access to employment, or failing that, social integration in the event of health or housing problems.

The job seeker and his/her referent adviser sign a "commitment contract" which defines this objective and the intensity of the support.

For RSA recipients, support for 15 to 20 hours of weekly action (company immersions, refresher courses, workshops, etc.) on the model of the Youth Engagement Contract has begun to be tested in 18 departments.

Among these commitments are "assiduity and active participation" in all actions. When the professional project is finalized, the contract includes the constituent elements of the "reasonable job offer": characteristics of the job, geographical area and salary level.

According to the Court of Auditors, today one beneficiary of the RSA out of two does not sign a reciprocal commitment contract and the actions proposed, "very weak", hardly help the beneficiary "in a concrete way".

Controls and sanctions

Point criticized by associations and unions, the draft law wants to unify the system of sanctions against the unemployed or beneficiaries of the RSA but the terms are referred to decrees.

Unemployment benefit or RSA may be temporarily suspended, in whole or in part, when the beneficiary refuses, "without legitimate reason", to draw up his employment contract.

This may go as far as deletion depending on the shortcomings observed and their frequency.

“I confirm that in the bill, there will be the possibility of suspending, for a short period perhaps to start”, confirmed Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Saturday during a trip to Reunion.

“There will also be a system of sanctions as soon as we have accomplished, on our side, our share of responsibility, that is to say that we have put the beneficiary of the RSA in a position to follow the path that we offered him".

The text specifies that the decision to suspend the payment of the RSA is taken "by the president of the departmental council".