Le chômage des jeunes en France : un état des lieux

Abstract

Over the last twenty years, youth unemployment has become a major issue of the French labour market situation. It explains the increasing public intervention in the labour market targeted to the youths. This article tries to shed some light on two main aspects of the youth labour market situation : the impact of the minimum wage on the youth (un)employment and the adequacy of the qualification acquired at school to the needs of firms. It compares also their situation to the adults' one. Overall, we have not found sharp specificities of youth unemployment compared to the adult one : more precisely, the economic activity is one of the most important determinants of both youth and adult unemployment. Moreover, our results suggest no evidence on the effect of the minimum wage on youth unemployment over the period. Finally, education problems (skill mismatch, training unrelated to subsequent employment, etc.) are emphasized by jobs shortage, so that the least qualified youths are « queuing for jobs » at the bottom of the file.