Apprenticeship and Youth Unemployment in France – The End of Illusions

The attractive, consensual idea that the mere development of apprenticeship without explicit and specific goals is an effective weapon to reduce youth unemployment is invalidated by its recent history. On the one hand, companies far prefer the flexibility of precarious contracts to integrate young workers and on the other hand, when apprenticeship develops, it involves skill segments where young people, although they may face real problems of being over-qualified, face few problems in accessing employment. This article is a contribution to the evaluation of public policies which have incurred considerable costs for 25 years without ever attaining their objectives or achieving a reduction in youth unemployment in terms of numbers of apprentices.