Former minister Muriel Penicaud calls for apprentice recruitment bonuses she introduced to be ‘removed’

Four years after her initiative, Muriel Penicot is finally calling for a retreat. A former labor minister is calling on the executive to “reduce or eliminate” the apprentice hiring bonus “for large companies.” A system designed to stimulate learning, which she herself created in 2020, then a member of the government of Edouard Philippe.

The measure was introduced “in the spirit that it would only be intended to deal with the Covid crisis” and is no longer relevant in its current form, at a time when the state is looking to cut billions of dollars from the budget, she concluded in an interview with the Complement d program. ‘Enquête’, broadcast on Thursday evening on France 2.

Following apprenticeship reforms launched in 2018, an apprenticeship bonus was introduced in July 2020 and has been extended several times until now. “An apprenticeship is a guarantee of skilled work,” Muriel Pénicault assured Parisian that same year, a few months before she was replaced by Elisabeth Bourne.

This bonus increased to €5,000 for a minor and €8,000 for an adult, and was later reduced to €6,000 regardless of age. It applies to companies regardless of their size, reminds “Additional Investigation”. Since then, the proportion of apprentices has continued to rise, from around 856,000 in 2021 to over a million in January 2024.

But given the scale of savings to be made today, the ex-minister now proposes “one way”. “As we have to sort out priorities, it would be better to invest more in the training of junior nurses, or a cook, or a baker, who are all punished today, and, conversely, perhaps stop bonuses for hiring “apprentices for large companies.” she asked.

“Participate in the nation’s efforts”

“This was an exceptional case for the Covid crisis, we are no more,” she also argued, therefore believing that it was “no longer worth it” to pay these premiums to large companies. The latter “can take responsibility in this matter,” she supported, believing that “we should not reduce the quality of education for young people, this is a priority.”

When asked about the specific case of apprenticeships at Carrefour, which was part of the focus of this edition of Complément d’Enquête, Muriel Pénicault acknowledged that paying on-boarding bonuses “encourages” the group to hire apprentices. “But if they can participate in the country’s efforts to educate the youth, (…) we must set priorities,” she noted, recalling that she has been “free and independent” in her views since her departure from government.

According to an investigation by TV channel France 2, Carrefour allows its apprentices to perform tasks similar to those of regular employees, for less pay and without providing them with the promised hours of training. In a Marseille hypermarket, part-time students have not been attending classes at all for almost a year and are ending the year without a diploma. “A unique case” for which “a solution has been found,” the magazine was assured by management.

The group will also introduce the apprenticeship contract as a passport to a permanent contract: “The number of permanent contracts signed by young people within a year of their work-study program amounted to 8% of the number of apprentices hired between 2021 and 2023.” according to the issue. A “shocking” situation for Muriel Penicot, who calculated that if the alleged facts were confirmed by the regulator, Carrefour would “be subject to sanctions by government authorities.”

Save the bonus for “young disabled people”

However, the former minister believed that hiring bonuses should be retained in one specific case – “the hiring of young people with disabilities,” “a topic that does not yet exist.” In total, “8% of young people have a visible or invisible disability”, but they make up only “just under 2%” of young people in vocational training centres, even if this figure has “increased slightly” recently. “Even for large companies, if they are designed to accommodate young people with disabilities, I am ready to leave a bonus,” she concluded.

These statements came a few days after the Ministry of Labor sent a draft decree to social partners with the aim of canceling assistance in the employment of student workers under vocational training contracts, from May 1 until the end of the year. Bonuses for hiring employees under training contracts under the age of 30 were created at the same time as bonuses for apprentices.

Thus, a one-time aid of 6,000 euros will be reserved from next week for the enrollment of apprentices for basic training in order to reduce public costs. Having cut the budget by 10 billion euros in February, the government planned to cancel 1.1 billion loans for the Jobs and Employment mission.