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French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday unveiled a plan to spend more than a billion euros on youth job schemes to counter soaring unemployment among people under 25.
Just days before France's spring protest season gets into full swing, Sarkozy sought to send a positive signal to a generation that fears being excluded from the job market during the recession and missing out on the upturn for lack of experience.
The global economic crisis has been swelling the ranks of the unemployed in France for months, but the youngest job-seekers are faring particularly badly, with youth unemployment at over 20 percent.
Millions of people have protested against Sarkozy's economic and social policies in recent months, and another nationwide march is planned for May 1. Large numbers of jobless youths going into the summer holidays could heighten tensions further.
"By June 2010, our aim is to help 500,000 young people find a job and training," Sarkozy said in a speech, arguing that the problem was structural in France, which he said lagged other developed countries.
"Slightly fewer than one in two young people has a job in France. In other countries, it is two in three. That is the problem. It is structural," he said, adding that his measures would cost 1.3 billion euros ($1.71 billion).
Under the new scheme, companies would receive tax and other incentives to take on apprentices and upgrade staff on internships to long-term contracts. The plan also improves terms for young people working under certain employment programmes.
"We are betting on apprenticeship. There is no reason for France not to massively develop apprenticeships, which are a successful system," Sarkozy said.
Youth employment has been a sensitive issue in France. Then Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced in 2006 that he planned to introduce a new work contract, making it easier to hire and fire young workers.
The move prompted massive street protests that forced Villepin to withdraw the plan and all but ended his hopes of challenging political rival Sarkozy for the presidency.
While Sarkozy avoided referring to that ill-fated plan directly, he made clear his idea was completely different.
"Employment law must be the same regardless of the age at which one performs a job," Sarkozy said.
"I have always been opposed to contracts that have fewer social rights simply because you are under 26," he said.
