Trésor-Info - Publications de la direction générale du Trésor - CDD

Trésor-Economics No. 239 - Lifetime worked hours in France

2019-06-05T00:00:00+02:00

GDP per capita is calculated from the hourly productivity of labour and the average per capita volume of labour input. In its turn, the latter depends on the number of hours worked per year by persons in employment, the level of unemployment and the participation rate, which inter alia reflects the length of economically active life, between the ages of entry to and exit from the labour market.

Since 2005, changes in the total number of hours worked by all workers have sustained growth in Germany much more than in France.

According to certain international comparisons, the average annual hours worked per employee is lower in France than in other European countries. In a typical working week, the usual hours worked by French employees are in fact around the European average, but since working hours were reduced to 35 hours per week at the beginning of the 2000s, French workers are entitled to more days of annual leave entitlement than in other countries.

The relatively low participation rate compared with other countries can partly be explained by the fact that, in France, employees end their working life at an earlier age. Since French employees do not enter the labour market at an earlier age, this accentuates the difference between hours worked over the life cycle.

In France in 2017, one out of six persons in employment expressed the wish to work more hours. These were mainly part-time employees, especially who reported that their working part-time working was "involuntary". A significant proportion of full-time employees (13%) also reported that they would like to work more hours. These were employees on lower wages and with lower-than-average educational qualifications, and mainly on fixed-term or seasonal contracts.

Certain recent measures could in the long term foster an increase in worked hours in France. Several recent pieces of legislation, in particular the Acts of 8 August 2016 and 29 March 2018, have given more flexibility for companies to adjust working hours, to make greater use of overtime and additional hours, thereby enabling them to respond to fluctuations in demand. The latest pension reforms encourages a gradual increase in the average retirement age and should therefore increase the number of hours worked over the life cycle.

Trésor-Economics No. 238 - The development of very short-term employment contracts in France

2019-04-23T00:00:00+02:00

Since the 2000s, hires on very short-term fixed-term contracts (less than one month) have increased sharply and the median duration of fixed-term contracts has contracted.

The increase in the number of very short-term hires can be primarily observed in the service sector, where four subsectors of activity account for 80% of the increase: residential care services and social action, arts and entertainment, accommodation and food service, and administrative and support services. Between 2000 and 2017, the use of contracts of less than one month more than doubled in all these sectors.

The growth in short-term contracts over the past twenty years may be linked to sector-specific production and organisational constraints, as well as to regulatory and legal changes. However, due to the lack of studies on the factors behind this increase, it is difficult to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Compared with employees on long-term contracts, individuals employed on repeated very short-term contracts are penalised in several respects: their incomes are lower, they have less access to vocational training, and their prospects for moving towards stable employment are limited. They also have more difficulties accessing housing and getting bank loans.

Some recently-adopted measures could encourage longer-term contracts, such as the permanent establishment of the «open-ended interim contracts» with temping agencies and stronger labour relations at branch level. Recent vocational training measures could even out access to training between employees on fixed-term contracts and those on open-ended ones. Limiting incentives to repeatedly renew short-term contracts is also a key part of unemployment insurance reform, which involves acting by both employers and employees.

Trésor-Éco n° 238 - Le développement des contrats de très courte durée en France

2019-04-23T00:00:00+02:00

Depuis les années 2000, les embauches en contrats à durée déterminée (CDD) de très courte durée (moins d'un mois) ont fortement augmenté et la durée médiane des CDD s'est raccourcie.

L'augmentation du nombre d'embauches en contrats très courts s'observe essentiellement dans le tertiaire, où quatre secteurs d'activité contribuent à eux seuls à 80 % de l'augmentation de ces embauches : l'hébergement médico-social et l’action sociale, les arts et spectacles, l'hébergement-restauration, et les services administratifs et de soutien. Entre 2000 et 2017, le recours aux contrats de moins d'un mois a plus que doublé dans l'ensemble de ces secteurs.

Le développement des contrats courts ces vingt dernières années serait lié à des contraintes de production et d'organisation spécifiques à quelques secteurs d'activité, ainsi qu'à des évolutions règlementaires et juridiques. Il est toutefois difficile d'établir des liens de cause à effet en raison du manque d'études sur les facteurs explicatifs de cette progression.

Les salariés employés en contrats répétés de très courte durée sont pénalisés par rapport aux salariés en contrat stable à plusieurs titres : leurs revenus sont plus faibles, ils ont moins accès à la formation professionnelle, leurs perspectives d'évolution vers un emploi stable sont limitées. Ils ont aussi un accès plus difficile au crédit bancaire et au logement.

Certaines mesures récemment adoptées pourraient à l'avenir favoriser un allongement de la durée des contrats, comme la pérennisation du CDI intérimaire ou le renforcement du dialogue social au niveau des branches. D'autres mesures récentes en matière de formation continue pourraient rééquilibrer l'accès à la formation entre les salariés en CDD et ceux en CDI. Limiter les incitations à la répétition des contrats courts est également un enjeu clé de la réforme de l'assurance chômage, qui implique d'agir tant du côté des employeurs que des employés.