French youths want new president to bring them jobs

Chartres (France), Apr 12: The message from young French people to whoever becomes their new president is clear: ''Give us a job!'' With French youth unemployment at 20 per cent, all presidential candidates have vowed to make job creation a priority should they become elected in the April/May poll. But they also know the issue is prone to spark strong emotions.

While many young French worry about finding jobs, they don't all agree on how the government should help them towards a brighter future.

''There's a lot of discrimination when you're looking for work,'' said Demba Sall, a 19-year old of Senegalese origin, who lives in a poor, ethnically diverse suburb of the central city of Chartres and is looking for work as a cook.

In contrast to some students, who lobby candidates to make sure new labour laws do not curb employees' job security, youngsters like Sall say their priority is to get a first chance on the market, with job protection a secondary concern.

''We need jobs for all,'' Sall said, adding a new president should fight against racism, pump money into training and allow unqualified youths better access to the job market.

Just a year ago, the centre-right government had to withdraw a youth job law, known as the CPE job contract, after weeks of student protests across France.

Proposed after riots by angry youths in poor suburbs, where unemployment often reaches 40 per cent, the centre-right government had argued the CPE would encourage firms to employ new staff by making it easier for them to hire and fire.

Some in the riot-hit areas had said that although they did not like the CPE, it was better than no job. But protesting students called the contract an attack on job protection, and they have vowed to resist new attempts to make jobs less secure.

Student Demands

''There would be a strong reaction if (the new president) attacked workers' rights,'' said Caroline de Haas, a 26-year old politics student and secretary general of the UNEF union, one of the main organisers of last year's protests.

''We are ready to take back to the streets,'' she said. ''It's not flexibility in the employment world which will create jobs.

What creates jobs is a rise in purchasing power and growth.''

Reuters