The "Zero Unemployment Territory" system has "proven its usefulness locally" but remains costly, according to the Court of Auditors.

Established by law in 2016, this experiment allows voluntary territories to create "employment-oriented businesses", which recruit people who have been out of work for a long time on permanent contracts.

The " Zero Long-Term Unemployment Territory " experiment has "proven its usefulness locally" , but the scheme is costly, the Court of Auditors said in a report published on Thursday, June 19. Established by law in 2016, this experiment allows volunteer territories to create "employment-oriented businesses" , which recruit people who have been unemployed for a long time on permanent contracts, the Court points out.

It was extended in 2020 and is due to end on June 30, 2026. Parliament must decide its fate before this deadline. By the end of 2024, the scheme covered 83 territories and " 3,290 employees from long-term unemployment." Initially, the idea behind the experiment was that the money raised was equivalent to the overall cost of unemployment support, estimated at €18,000 per person per year. However, the Court emphasizes, "this estimate was refuted" by an official report in 2019.

The report states that the experiment requires "significant resources, both human and financial." They note a "patent" financial imbalance, with expenditure of 57.1 million euros in 2024 for the State (compared to 5.8 million in 2017) and 7.5 million for the departments . "The amount of public funding in 2023, compared to the number of employees benefiting from the experiment in full-time equivalent (FTE), shows an annual cost of 28,000 euros per FTE," the report observes.

The Sages also point to "atypical governance" . The piloting of the experiment was entrusted to an association that manages the territorial experimental fund against long-term unemployment, the monitoring of which by the State administrations is carried out "at a minimum". The Court considers that "it is necessary to put an end to the management of the public funds concerned by an association" and wishes "that the approach be part of the common law policies in favor of employment" .