Counseling and Job Placement for Young Graduate Job Seekers in France (Jeunes Diplômés)PDF version
France has a large population of long-term job seekers, especially among younger generations. To mitigate this problem, the government provides job placement services, helping match employers with job seekers. Despite the presence of this kind of social safety net, youth unemployment remains high, and even those with college degrees often have difficulty finding a job. Some have suggested that more intensive forms of career counseling and support, such as that provided by some private firms in France, may improve the efficiency of matching between employers and employees. However, the relative effectiveness of public and private operators is not known. If private employment agencies are given strong incentives to find long-term employment for job-seekers, will labor market outcomes improve?
The French government runs a national employment bureau, Pôle Emploi, which matches job seekers with potential employers, as well as providing benefits and career guidance to the unemployed. This program was implemented in 10 regions of France, among 57,000 young people currently looking for a job through the Pôle Emploi. The targeted population included individuals aged 18 to 30 who held a college degree and had been unemployed for more than 6 months. Because the study area was so large, these job seekers should be representative of young unemployed persons throughout France.
In the winter of 2006-2007, the Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Employment began accepting applications from private firms that wanted to contract with the government to provide job placement services. The Delegation for Employment and Vocational Training (DGEFP) selected companies to participate and continued monitoring the performance of these companies over the life of the program.
Local government employment agencies were placed into groups of five based on their proximity within the same region, and within each group of five the proportion of job-seekers (0 percent, 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, or 100 percent) who would receive treatment was randomly assigned. Each month, that proportion of job-seekers from each agency would be randomly selected to receive reinforced counseling from a private agency.
Approximately half of the 57,000 job seekers had their information sent to a private provider, who was in charge of contacting them to set up career counseling and placement. In the end, around 10,000 individuals ended up signing contracts to receive counseling and career placement help from a private provider. Researchers collected data from Pôle Emploi, as well as successful job-seekers, on the job status of participants. Analysis focused on the quality of counseling they received, whether they found employment, and the nature and duration of their employment.
