Background information

The third amending finance law for the year 2020 (L. No. 2020-935 of 30 July 2020, Art. 76) introduced hiring aid intended to limit the effects of the health crisis on the number of people taking up work-study contracts. Its implementation procedures were defined by two decrees of 24 August 2020: one concerns hiring under a "professionalisation" contract (D. No. 2020-1084), the other concerns hiring under an apprenticeship contract (D. No. 2020-1085). This temporary aid is granted for the first year of performance of apprenticeship or professionalisation contracts concluded between 1 July 2020 and 28 February 2021 for a maximum amount of €5,000 for a minor and €8,000 for an adult.

Content of measure

Beneficiary companies The aid is open to all companies employing private law employees likely to sign an apprenticeship or "professionalisation" contract (private law companies, associations, public industrial and commercial establishments, etc.).

Excluded from the "normal" one-off aid for hiring apprentices, companies with 250 or more employees are eligible for this exceptional aid provided that they undertake to reach a certain threshold of alternating work-study students in their workforce by 2021. They must therefore reach a quota of 5% of alternating students in their workforce (or a lower rate while demonstrating an increase in the number of alternating students).

Beneficiaries All persons eligible for the apprenticeship contract are entitled to aid for the recruitment of work-study students.

• The apprenticeship contract is aimed at young people aged 16 or over (15 if the young person has finished secondary school and reached 16 between the start of the school year and 31 December) and up to 29 years of age. However, an apprenticeship contract may be concluded with a person up to the age of 35 if he or she has already been in an apprenticeship and wishes to move on to a higher level of qualification, or if his or her previous contract was terminated for reasons beyond his or her control or because of unfitness. In addition, there is no age limit for concluding an apprenticeship contract with a disabled worker, a business creator/entrepreneur or a high-level sportsperson.
• In the case of recruitment under a "professionalisation" contract, access to the aid is limited to a young public. In fact, it is only granted for the recruitment of employees aged under 30 on the date the contract is concluded.

Length of the scheme This scheme only covers apprenticeship or "professionalisation" contracts concluded between 1 July 2020 and 28 February 2021. But this aid has been extended (see update below).

Amount of the financial support The amount of aid for hiring work-study students varies according to the age of the employee and reaches:

• €5,000 maximum for an employee under the age of 18. When the student reaches the age of majority, the aid will be increased to €8 000 from the first day of the month following his or her birthday;
• €8,000 maximum for an employee aged 18 or over.

With this measure, the cost of recruiting an employee on a work-linked training scheme is considerably reduced. The aid covers almost 50% of the salary of a young person under 18 on a professionalisation contract and more than 65% for a young person between the ages of 18 and 20. The aid covers 100% of the salary of an apprentice under 21 years of age and 80% of the salary of an apprentice between 21 and 25 years of age.

Use of measure

According to the Ministry of Labour, nearly 1.3 million young people under 26 were hired on permanent or fixed-term contracts of more than three months between August and January this year, of which 340,000 have so far applied for aid. The cost between July 2020 and 31 March 2021 is estimated at €803 million.

However, the aid will not have been enough to maintain the level of hiring of young people. Thus, according to DARES, in February 2021, the hiring of young people under 26 on permanent and fixed-term contracts of more than three months was lower than in February 2019 and February 2020, by 10% and 19% respectively. For young people under 30 as a whole, the decline in hires is similar (-11% and -19% respectively compared to February 2019 and 2020).

Over the period August 2020 to February 2021, the number of cumulative hires reaches 1,399,000 for young people under 26 years of age on lasting contracts. This is 8% lower than the figure for the same period a year earlier. the same period a year earlier. The decline is 10% for young people under 30. (DARES, Situation sur le marché du travail pendant la crise sanitaire au 29 mars 2021).

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Other groups of workers Youth (18-25) in employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Social partners jointly	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

Social partners are consulted to the measures before the government takes its final decision.

Views and reactions

This measure received the support of social partners, even some trade unions highlighted the risk of windfall effect.

Sources

• 24 August 2020: Décret n° 2020-1084 du 24 août 2020 relatif à l'aide aux employeurs de salariés bénéficiaires d'un contrat de professionnalisation (www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
• 24 August 2020: Décret n° 2020-1085 du 24 août 2020 relatif à l'aide aux employeurs d'apprentis (www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
• 26 February 2021: Décret n° 2021-224 du 26 février 2021 portant attribution d'une aide exceptionnelle aux employeurs d'apprentis et de salariés en contrats de professionnalisation (www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
• 31 March 2021: Décret n° 2021-363 du 31 mars 2021 portant modification et prolongation des aides à l'embauche des jeunes de moins de 26 ans, aux emplois francs et aux employeurs d'apprentis et de salariés en contrat de professionnalisation (www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
• 29 June 2022: Décret n° 2022-957 du 29 juin 2022 modifiant le décret n° 2021-1404 du 29 octobre 2021 relatif à l'aide à l'embauche de certains demandeurs d'emploi en contrat de professionnalisation (www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
• 29 June 2022: Décret n° 2022-958 du 29 juin 2022 portant prolongation de la dérogation au montant de l'aide unique aux employeurs d'apprentis et de l'aide exceptionnelle aux employeurs d'apprentis et de salariés en contrat de professionnalisation (www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
• 10 November 2022: 730.000 salariés ont bénéficié de la nouvelle "prime Macron" (www.latribune.fr)
• 01 December 2022: Renouvellement du soutien du Gouvernement à l’alternance pour 2023 (travail-emploi.gouv.fr)
• 29 December 2022: Décret n° 2022-1714 du 29 décembre 2022 relatif à l'aide unique aux employeurs d'apprentis et à l'aide exceptionnelle aux employeurs d'apprentis et de salariés en contrat de professionnalisation (www.legifrance.gouv.fr)