On Monday March 15, the government announced that it would be maintaining the aid for hiring young people that was introduced in the summer of 2020 as part of the "1 young person, 1 solution" plan. This came as a relief to SME managers, many of whom made use of the scheme.
Aid for hiring young people and exceptional aid for work-study schemes
Effective since August 1, 2020, the aid for hiring young people was originally due to end on March 31, 2021. Worth 4,000 euros, it is paid to companies employing a young person under the age of 26 on a permanent or fixed-term contract of at least 3 months.
It has been extended until May 31, but with one change: until now, it was granted on condition that the young person's remuneration was less than or equal to 2 times the SMIC. This threshold has now been lowered to 1.6 times the SMIC. According to the government, 9 out of 10 young people hired do not exceed this threshold.
This aid has been a great success and has been requested, according to figures from the Ministry of Labor, 346,000 times since its creation on August 1, 2020. The French government estimates the cost of extending the scheme at 150 million euros.
The second aid scheme introduced in the summer of 2020, the Aide Exceptionnelle pour l'Alternance (exceptional aid for work-study schemes), enables companies hiring a work-study student, whether on an apprenticeship or professionalization contract, to benefit from a bonus of 5,000 euros if they are under 18, or 8,000 euros if they are over 18.
This assistance has been massively requested by companies. In the private sector, 500,000 contracts were signed in 2020. The scheme will remain unchanged until December 31, 2021, at an estimated additional cost of 2.4 billion euros.
SMEs and VSEs, the main users of this aid
Of the 500,000 contracts signed under the exceptional aid scheme for work-study schemes, over 75% were signed by SMEs and VSEs.
The 4,000-euro bonus to help young people under the age of 26 find jobs has been requested by 346,000 companies, 42% of which have between 11 and 249 employees, and 30% of which have fewer than 11 employees.
The enthusiasm of SMEs and VSEs for these schemes is due less to spontaneous support for young people than to the recruitment needs of fast-growing companies. The 1 jeune 1 solution plan was most successful in the Rhône region, with 15,392 apprenticeship contracts and bonuses, compared with 15,007 in Paris.
Some companies, such as Ninkasi, a craft brewery in Lyon, had little need to recruit, as all their activities had slowed down or even been suspended. However, the company, which already had 5 work-study students, recruited 4 more to enable them to complete their year.
Opteven, a car insurance broker, was planning to hire 70 people. Opteven took advantage of the government's "Aide à l'embauche des jeunes de moins de 26 ans" scheme to recruit 30 of them, and claims that it would not have been able to carry out such a recruitment without this scheme.
Others would have hired with or without the scheme, but intend to use the bonuses to finance training or equipment.