Employability in France

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” —Albert Einstein

Since the introduction of the GPEC (gestion prévisionnelle des emplois et de compétences – strategic workforce planning), researchers study findings about its effects of employability on the French labor market. Literature rather confirms that in spite of the introduction of the disposition, unemployment numbers have increased steadily since the year 2008. For this reason, we can assume that the GPEC has no visible impact on the labor market in terms of decreasing unemployment. However other micro- and macroeconomic influences play a big role. 

Generous French unemployment benefits are supposed to serve to maintain the current living standard of the unemployed. Its approach is based on repartition. The challenge is to integrate people into society and to give them a task by paying indemnities for work and/ or service in return. This has not been achieved in France. In consequence by steadily maintaining existing employment, others are prevented to enter the labor market. It prevents the new generation to inspire economy with new knowledge, new ideas and a different dynamic because the labor market is still dominated by those who have the power to protect themselves and are not open to change. In consequence, the French labor market deprives itself from further development since it protects the status quo inhibiting new trends and innovative, inspirational developments.

France is one of the last countries in Europe which has not realized a reform of its social security system in order to adapt to new economic challenges and needs. This situation is reflected in the economic figures since the government spends far more money for unemployment allocation, healthcare and pension than the budget allows. Initiatives to address the topic and to introduce measures which would help economy to recover would result in taking advantages away from those who represent the most vulnerable part of the French society. 

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Creating Shared Value (CSV) are often discussed as possible solutions to create territorial employment. In a liberal, open-minded society individual ethics reach soon their limits. Individual ethics are too divers in order to justify honor as a predefined virtue without any restrictions. Therefore, they should be complemented (but not replaced) by institutional ethics. These institutions, e.g. in form of a value proposition or a behavioral codex, will cover two different functions:

·       helping to relieve individuals of permanent moral decisive situations which exceeds the individual’s judging capacity. 

·       Clearly defined rules which communicate internally and externally reliable values protect against arbitrariness of enterprise dominance. 

Within an organization we find various value orientations which determine the identity of the company. Company’s responsibility is on one hand an empiric task of determining the value proposition (and with it, protecting employment), and on the other hand it is a task of reflection in order to critical review existing values. But not only companies but as well communities are creating value for inhabitants and their environment. The city of Utrecht in the Netherlands is a good example to the approach of creating an environment and sharing values which make people happy. Utrecht wants their population to be engaged, happy and healthy. This idea involves basic income; providing a regular income to people allowing them to pay for their basic needs, leaving them a choice of how to spend their time.

245 years ago, Adam Smith’s upper goal was to obtain as much freedom as possible for all individuals, without the interference of the government, supporting each individual to develop his/her own talents in order to be able to take care of his/her own welfare. His approach was designed to fight against the uneven diffusion of privileges as well as the devastating powers exercised by many monarchs to suppress the poor. He was aware that damage could also be done by private economy. For this reason, he strongly criticizes monopolies. Adam Smith wrote all this, what we are calling today globalization. Even nowadays the contents of his findings are still relevant. We even could ask the question whether today the internet represents the ‘invisible hand’? However, in today’s world, the internet allows gathering information, to compare prices and to obtain knowledge but it doesn’t create additional employment. Access to information strengthens our position when e.g. we want to negotiate a loan with our bank or when we want to buy a car. In former times the sales person was in an advantageous position because s/he had information at her/his disposition which we could not access. The Internet has changed that. Economists have recognized the power of free markets a long time ago but they could not imagine that once the markets will be so supple that it will become a real market economy. With the help of the internet the relationship between customer and producer has become so close that the producer is in the position to respond to very individual demands. This development increases the power of the customer by defining his wishes and the price s/he is willing to pay. Adam Smith would be delighted. 

Unfortunately, not everybody is taking advantage from the offerings of the internet because in order to be able to do so people have to change. Consumers have to adapt but also everybody working in retail has to align his/her skillset. 

In the new economy, people have to constantly work on upgrading their skills, on upgrading their attractiveness on the market and on upgrading their values. The GPEC is supposed to provide the tools to do so.

However, contrary to the central role of law within the French model, elsewhere it’s the autonomy of social partners and the decisive factor of the management which leads to the success of the social dialog and in consequence to employability. The French conception of the labor law is very hierarchical and therefore the company, placed in the middle, is restricted in its actions.

The French intrusive legislative tradition is imbedded in the context of the Welfare State and full employment, favoring " always more" to outsider's perception, missing out on re-integrating those who are not yet employed (young people) or those who have lost their employment before retirement age (seniors). It translates into an excessive volume of legal measures existing today, exceeding far beyond the "fundamental principles of labor law ". French preference for laws is connected to the strong implication of the state. The deprivation of the actor’s autonomy often results into pushing responsibility and action towards the government which is lacking sufficient materials and information in order to resolve the topic to the actor’s satisfaction. 

A drastic reform, comparable to the Hartz reform introduced by Schr?der in Germany, resulting in major changes of the labor law might be needed in France in order to shift the attention from the unemployed to the challenge of creating employment and employability for groups which have been pushed into the outskirts of the labor market as young people, old people and unskilled workers.