France: Human-centred public-private cooperation for strengthening employment services

France ratified Convention 88 in 1952 and Convention 181 in 2015, thereby strengthening cooperation and complementarity of actions already established on the labour market between Pôle emploi, the national public operator, and the various private actors. Providing real added value for job seekers and employers.

History of the different actors

• The first private employment agencies were created in France during the 1930s but were not fully developed until the end of the 1950s in the context of severe labour shortages. The growth of private employment agencies accelerated in the 70s and 80s, during which time such agencies sought to satisfy a growing need for flexibility in recruitment. In 2021, the temporary employment observatory listed 11,237 private employment agencies in France, with 30,350 permanent employees and employing 2,891,673 persons.
• L'Agence Nationale Pour l'Emploi (ANPE) was created in 1967; this public administrative institution gradually built up an ambitious service offer for intermediation. In 2009, it merged with the ASSEDIC (a structure in charge of compensation for the unemployed) to create Pôle emploi. In 2020, Pôle emploi had a network of 896 local agencies, with 57,478 employment professionals, supporting job seekers and employers with around 13.2 million job offers published on pole-emploi.fr.

The end of the public monopoly for placement and the expansion of private agencies' missions

Until 2005, the public employment service had a monopoly on placement operations. Private agencies focused solely on temporary work regulated by the principles of the 1972 law that temporary work cannot replace permanent employment and must have a limited duration. 

Prior to the ratification of convention 181, the social cohesion law of January 18, 2005, put an end to this monopoly and extended the scope of action of temporary work establishments to recruitment. It recognizes that there are different stages and forms of transitioning from unemployment to sustainable employment. The private agencies are recognized as important players in this facilitation, being able, for example, to provide training between two jobs or stages. The temporary employment sector abandoned the term "temporary agency" in 2008 in favour of the name "employment agency".

The partnership between public and private players in the labour market

In interacting with certain major employers, public and private players have learned to work together to benefit the economy and integration. In the early 2000s, partnerships were forged at the local level of employment areas between ANPE agencies and temporary work agencies to collaborate on creating recruitment and implementing integration pathways.

Since its creation, Pôle emploi has opted for cooperation with the private sector,  particularly with the decision taken in 2013 to open its website to other players, to aggregate job offers. By signing partnership agreements with several job boards and the main temporary employment networks, Pôle emploi aims to have its website become the leading national portal for job vacancies. The objective is to strengthen transparency and visibility in the labour market while improving the quality of the distributed vacancies, particularly in regard to compliance with the rules of non-discrimination.

For instance, in the 1st quarter of 2022, 3.2 million job offers were published on the Pôle emploi web portal. Among the offers, 1/3 were collected directly by the operator from its client companies, and 2/3 were aggregated from 152 private operators in partnership with Pôle emploi. The Pôle emploi website attracted more than 40 million visits per month.

In May 2021, Prism'emploi (a professional organization bringing together 600 private recruitment and temporary employment companies) and Pôle emploi signed a national framework cooperation agreement. Together, they are committed to improving job seekers' and temporary employees' road to employment while meeting companies' recruitment needs. This partnership also aims to address skills shortages and develop synergies between the two networks. Within this framework, agreements are in place with the leading national networks of private agencies: Manpower, CRIT, Synergie, Adecco, and Randstad. Common quantitative objectives are negotiated regarding the mobilization of specific integration schemes (immersion in companies, training prior to recruitment) or access to employment for the most vulnerable groups, such as refugees and persons with disabilities.

Focus on the integration of temporary work

As part of government guidelines for the fight against poverty, the Inclusion Law voted in 2021 strengthens the resources dedicated to systems for integration in the labour market through economic activity. The ETTI "Temporary Integration Work Companies" is among these devices. The ETTI is an interim company, but it's unique in that its activity is entirely focused on the professional integration of vulnerable persons. It offers them assignments with user companies' social and professional support, including follow-up both during and outside the assignments.

388 ETTIs were referenced in France in 2022 to support 40,000 job seekers in the integration process. They work closely with Pôle Emploi, which directs people in difficulty so that they can benefit from a support program that promotes independence and helps them enter or return to sustainable employment. Each Pôle emploi agency coordinates a technical committee at the local level, bringing together the various players involved in integration through economic activity, to promote the pathways of beneficiaries.

A facilitating regulatory framework

In France, as in many European countries, the labour market is highly reactive to various crises. Recruitment challenges for employers are increasing, while at the same time, vulnerable persons remain unemployed. The stakes of professional integration are prominent, and each actor has a role to play in finding solutions. The ratification of Conventions 88 and 181 provides France with a clear regulatory framework and basis to guide its public policies and identify the place of each actor in complementarity with Pôle emploi, which remains at the heart of the system.

To learn more about the Conventions, the ratification, and support they provide to member States, please read more at ILO Employment Services Portal and/or contact employmentservices@ilo.org.

References:

• Le statut de l’intérimaire, une « innovation sociale » co-construite - Nathalie Bourotte, Isabelle Eynaud-Chevalier dans Entreprendre & Innover 2018/2 (n° 37), pages 18 à 30
• L'emploi intérimaire | Dares (travail-emploi.gouv.fr)
• Observatoire de l'Intérim et du Recrutement - chiffres clés (observatoire-interim-recrutement.fr)
• Pôle emploi et les agence d’emploi privées – Ivane SQUELBUT – webinaire OIT Mars 2022.  https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_ent/documents/presentation/wcms_845498.pdf
• Pôle emploi - Chiffres clés 2020 (06/2021) (francetravail.org)
• Pôle emploi et Prism'emploi renforcent leur coopération pour améliorer le retour à l'emploi des demandeurs d'emploi et des salariés intérimaires | Prism'emploi (prismemploi.eu)
• Entreprises de travail temporaire d'insertion (ETTI) - Ministère du Travail, du Plein emploi et de l'Insertion (travail-emploi.gouv.fr)