At the nationwide Round Table on Employment held on 12 May 1993 concrete proposals were announced. These have subsequently been elaborated jointly by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the social partners.

1.1.1.1. Four Measures

On 25 June 1993 the Council of Ministers accepted the agreement which had been signed to this effect. For the short term it was decided to implement the four following measures with the aim of promoting employment.

The plan for youth recruitment (plan d'embauche des jeunes) is an active measure in the fight against youth unemployment, with the prime intention of preventing young people from entering the ranks of the long-term unemployed. It consists of a reduction in employer's social-insurance contributions for the first three years of their employment. By this means a greater number of young people will have the chance of getting an initial taste of paid employment.

The second measure is the part-time early retirement scheme. It enables older workers to work half their normal hours and thus to benefit from partial early retirement until they reach the standard retirement age. The introduction of this measure corresponds to the wishes of a large number of workers who, while wanting to work fewer hours, do not wish to terminate their occupational activity completely. At the same time, the part-time jobs which become vacant in this way can be filled by young job-seekers.

A collective labour agreement, soon to be reached by the "Conseil National du Travail", will generalise the right to a career break for workers throughout the private sector. This will enable workers to withdraw temporarily from the labour market. Given that those employees taking a break from working life can be replaced by unemployed persons, this measure should also bring about a redistribution of the volume of available work.

The fourth and final measure concerns the redistribution of work within firms undergoing restructuring or in economic difficulty. Based on the philosophy that the greatest possible number of workers should remain in employment during restructuring, other alternative forms of work redistribution must be sought. Firms will be entitled to concrete support in drawing up measures which distribute the available work over a larger number of employees.

The four measures will be financed from the revenue generated by a tax on energy consumption.

This marks the end of the first phase of the Round Table on Employment. A second phase will begin in September 1993, when the Ministry of Labour and Employment will begin negotiations with the social partners on matching supply and demand on the labour market, on flexibility, the redistribution of work and reducing the cost of labour.

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