Support most vulnerable & fight against isolation

Territorial experiment aiming at reducing long-term unemployment is part of a country where the choices of economic organization allow a majority of the population to obtain a job and live in dignity. On the other hand, at the same time, we see that many millions of people are deprived of jobs or forced to accept precarious jobs in conditions that do not allow a dignified existence.

This experience is based on three observations that suggest that it is humanly and economically feasible to eliminate long-term unemployment at the territorial level:
- no one is unfit for work, all those who are permanently unemployed have know-how and skills.
- the work is not missing, it's the employment, because many of the needs of society are not satisfied.
- money is not missing, since each year, long-term unemployment leads to many expenses and shortfalls that the community pays for.

Who is this project aimed at?
This project is aimed at long-term unemployed. An unemployed person is considered long-term since he has been unemployed (or in reduced activity) for more than one year.
100 to 200 people are involved in this process in each territory, that is to say nearly 2,000 people at the national level, in all the ten territories that should participate in the experiment.

What is the goal ?
The aim of this experiment is to be able to offer all unemployed people in a territory a job adapted to their skills, on time.

How?
By creating or relying on companies in the social and solidarity economy to create permanent contracts on minimum wages. Fund these additional jobs by redirecting the costs of job loss to financing a complementary local economy.

It is about redirecting the costs of deprivation of employment to finance the missing jobs by ensuring good working conditions. This work will be financed in part by reallocation of costs and shortfalls due to permanent deprivation of employment (allowances, unemployment benefits etc.). It will therefore involve the transfer of an existing and permanent budget without additional cost to the community, the other part of the financing being the turnover generated by the sale of the creditworthy or uncompleted work.

It is estimated that the reallocation of costs related to unemployment and job loss should cover about 70% of the cost of a full-time job paid to minimum wages.

What steps?
- Identification and meeting of people permanently unemployed from the territory wishing to join the process.
- Identification of useful works on the territory.
- Creation and identification of one or more companies for employment purposes.

The mere fact of hiring employees generates work within the company for employment purpose through the functions that support the production activity: administration, training, transportation, guarding children ...
To optimize the chances of success of the experiment, it is necessary to imagine from the beginning, within the structure, the solutions in terms of organization which will make it possible to lift the brakes with the hiring of the employees (mobility, guard of children, training ...) and thus secure their return to employment.

How is this approach innovative?
Usually, job seekers position themselves on job offers issued by companies. In this project, the mechanism is the opposite. Initially, the contracted companies identify the skills and desires of each individual wishing to integrate the approach. Then, based on this offer of skills, they search the territory for useful work that can match.

The experiment will be conducted for 5 years from the date of entry into force of the law (1 July 2016). At the latest twelve months before the end of the experiment, an independent scientific committee will carry out a precise evaluation to determine the appropriate conditions for its possible extension. To be extended, the process will have to go through the promulgation of a second law.

The community of communes "Between Nièvre and Forests" is one of the 10 territories selected for the launch of this experiment in 2016. A project manager was hired to coordinate the implementation of the project in Burgundy.

The hiring of the 25 employees, on February 6, 2017, kicked off the opening of the company for employment purpose (CEP) of Prémery (Nièvre dept) with a projection to 78 employees at the end of 2017 and 150 employees at the end of 2018.

Everything is to set up, to organize, to structure.

Not all jobs created and related activities compete with the existing market sector. These employees do logging, personal services, ironwork or market gardening, among others.

For the latter, CEP 58 has a parcel of 12 000 m2 lended by  the community of communes. 4 000 m2 are currently exploited for salads, radishes and other tomatoes. The objective is to reach a sustainable production, in particular to feed, in short circuit, school canteens of the sector.

The Nièvre departement, well ahead in terms of the number of jobs in other jurisdictions experimenting with the law, shows that the system works. CEP are fully-fledged businesses that meet a need.

For Jacques Legrain, departmental councilor, very invested in CEP 58, such a project can only work if there is an interest for the territory. "The department wants to develop tourism and improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, we must bet on it".

Former entrepreneur in the hotel business, Patrick Martin is in charge of the activity "Cultural Trails". The idea: to create new hiking trails and to propose story walks around local and regional history.

Dozens of other projects are in the box, such as a home delivery service for the bakeries and grocery stores of Prémery, or the supply of school canteens with vegetables and fruits through the market gardening activity which is in the process of to be developed.

Cyril, 40, was hired as a salesman and worked for many years in the automotive and construction sectors before his last employer separated from him seven years ago, part of a reorganization of the company. "It was brutal, says the forty-year-old. It struck me strongly morally. I dive a little. "

For all, this project is a godsend. "It put my foot down" says Cyril. If it had happened earlier, maybe it would have saved me a few years. The commercial appreciates "getting up in the morning for something". He also evokes the look of his family and his neighborhood that has changed. " I feel better. It weighed on me. It's important to look at others for self-esteem".

Secours Catholique supported the Zero Unemployed Territory experimentation for € 50,000 in 2017, which was used to invest in machinery to start the logging activity.

Links:

• Zero unemployed territory experiment

• Rapport experimentation TZC francais (PDF)