The executive may well have its head turned towards Ukraine, but the management of current internal affairs must continue. It is in this context that the last flagship device in the fight against youth unemployment will be launched this Tuesday, March 1: the Youth Engagement Contract, with the target of “dropouts”. Minister of Labor Élisabeth Borne will be present at the Rosny 2 shopping center (Seine-Saint-Denis) in the presence of Prime Minister Jean Castex to sign the first contracts. At the same time, seven or eight other of his fellow ministers will perform the same sequence in the regions.
The choice of the launch location for the last promise made by the candidate Macron in 2017 may surprise, but is not due to chance. “It is a visible and well-identified center by young people that we must seek out, where Yookan is located, a place dedicated to professional integration supported by Pôle emploi”, argues the Ministry of Labor.
With this launch, the government “still wanted to mark the occasion”, we whisper at a time when the concerns of the executive are focused on international issues.
Initial ambitions revised downwards
What is it about ? The device has little to do with a universal income or a young RSA. And the sail has been much reduced compared to the initial intentions of the engagement income: there is no longer any question of targeting all young people without jobs or training. “We have already put the plan in place. One youth, one solution which has benefited four million of them since July 2020, ”responds the entourage of Elisabeth Borne.
With this contract, the objective is to bring some 400,000 young people back on the path to employment among those who are furthest from it, or to direct them towards the structures supposed to help them that most do not know. From Tuesday March 1, they “will be able to benefit from 15 to 20 hours of support per week to discover a profession, to train, to find an apprenticeship or a job”, detailed Emmanuel Macron at the beginning of last November.
It is a “rights and duties” contract – a principle referring to “the value of work”, a marker dear to the president, in which young people under the age of 26 “without training or employment for several months” can receive up to 500 euros per month. The condition is to engage “assiduously” in a training course. Intensive support is provided by an adviser from Pôle emploi or local missions. If the young person does not respect his commitments, the allowance may be suspended or withdrawn.
A maximum of 500 euros per month
This contract will replace the youth guarantee and other devices, i.e. 300,000 beneficiaries who will automatically switch to the Youth Engagement Contract from March 1. As for the remaining 100,000 contracts, all unemployed young people between the ages of 16 and 25 (up to 30 for people with disabilities) will be eligible. This contract will be registered in the Labor Code, which makes it possible to perpetuate the system and each year a budget will have to be allocated to it.
The amount of the allowance will be flexible according to the age, the situation of the young person and the parents. The amount is 500 euros maximum per month if the young person is detached from his parents’ household for tax purposes (whose income will not be taken into account). Young people attached to a bracket 1 taxable household (annual income of 10,225 euros to 26,069 euros) will be able to receive 300 euros per month. The allowance can also be paid on a sliding scale if the young person has another source of income, but within the total limit of 500 euros per month.