This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Salognon, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Reorienting companies' hiring behaviour: an innovative `back-to-work' method in France

EconomiX, Université de Paris X-Nanterre, marie.salognon{at}u-paris10.fr

Current `back-to-work' programmes, particularly in France, tend to be built on a concept of personal responsibility for (long-term) unemployment and follow an `adaptive' approach: improving the `employability' of the unemployed, which is seen as an individual capacity, independent of the work and evaluation context. Our contribution justifies an alternative approach to back-to-work initiatives, so that society's share of responsibilities for long-term unemployment and social exclusion is taken into account within a collective, emergent and context-related conception of employability. Our study is based on observation of an innovative back-to-work programme in France (IOD) which seeks to change employers' assessment and recruitment practices to help vulnerable candidates who are generally discriminated against when seeking work.This interventionist approach aims to alter the demand side of the labour market and bring about changes in companies' practices to encourage more stable jobs and reduce selectivity in hiring.

Key Words: back-to-work policies /employability • employers' evaluation methods • interventionist approach • labour quality • long-term unemployment • recruitment

References

• Akerlof, G. (1970) `The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism', Quarterly Journal of Economics 84(3): 488—500.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Attal-Toubert, K. and Lavergne, H. (2006) `Premiers résultats de l'enquête sur l'emploi 2005 ', Insee Première, 1070(March), URL (consulted 28 July 2007): http://www.insee.fr/fr/ppp/publications/collect_doc.asp?article=0&first_doc=81&simple=&coll=1&num_pub=&titre=&deb_mois=&deb_annee=&fin_mois=&fin_annee=&auteur=&mot_cle=
• Benarrosh, Y. (2000) `Tri des chômeurs: le nécessaire consensus des acteurs de l'emploi', Travail et Emploi 81: 9—26.
• Castra, D. (1995) `Mécanismes implicites de prises de décision dans la situation de recrutement', L'orientation scolaire et professionnelle 24(2): 115—33.
• Castra, D. and Pascual, A. (2003) `L'insertion professionnelle des publics précaires: une alternative au recrutement concurrentiel', Revue européenne de psychologie appliquée 53(3/4): 167—78.
• Castra, D. and Valls, F. (1997) `Employabilité et insertion professionnelle', paper presented at the Colloque sur l'insertion, Metz.
• Coles, M. and Masters, A. (2000) `Retraining and long-term unemployment in a model of unlearning by not doing', European Economic Review 44(9): 1801—22.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Crépon, B., Dejemeppe, M. and Gurgand, M. (2005) `Un bilan de l'accompagnement des chômeurs', Connaissance de l'emploi 20 (September).
• Decreuse, B. and Di Paola, V. (2002) `L'employabilité des chômeurs de longue durée: mise en perspective des littératures théoriques et empiriques', Revue d'économie politique 59(2): 197—227.
• De Larquier, G. and Salognon, M. (2006) `Conventions de qualité du travail et chômage de longue durée', in F. Eymard-Duvernay (ed.) L'économie des conventions: méthodes et résultats, tome II, Développements, pp. 111—27. Paris: La Découverte. [Coll. Recherche]
• Devine, T.J. and Kiefer, N.M. (1991) Empirical Labor Economics: The Search Approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Eymard-Duvernay, F. and Marchal, E. (1997) Façons de recruter: le jugement des compétences sur le marché du travail. Paris: Métailié.
• Fougère, D. (2000) `La durée du chômage en France', in J.P. Fitoussi et al. (eds) Rapport du Conseil d'Analyse Économique, Réduction du chômage: les réussites en Europe, CAE 23, pp. 239—59. Paris: La Documentation Française.
• Gazier, B. (ed.) (1999) Employability, Concepts and Policies. Berlin: Institute for Applied Socio-economics (IAS).
• Gazier, B. (2001) `L'employabilité: la complexité d'une notion', in P. Weinert et al. (eds) L'employabilité: de la théorie à la pratique, pp. 3—28. Berne: Peter Lang. [In English: `Employability: the Complexity of a Policy Notion', in P. Weinert et al. (eds) Employability: From Theory to Practice, pp. 3—23. New York: Transaction Publishers.]
• Hutchins, E. (1995) Cognition in the Wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Jackman, R. and Layard, R. (1991) `Does Long-Term Unemployment Reduce a Person's Chance of a Job? A Time-Series Test', Economica 58(229): 93—106.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Join-Lambert, M., Bolot-Gittler, A., Lenoir, D. and Meda, D. (1997) Politiques sociales. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po et Dalloz.
• Klein, D., Renard, E. and Traversier, T. (2006) `L'accompagnement renforcé des demandeurs d'emploi ', L'essentiel, November, URL (consulted 27 July 2007): http://www.anpe.fr/observatoire/publics/accompagnement_renforce_demandeurs_emploi_52.html
• Laville, F. (2000) `La cognition située: une nouvelle approche de la rationalité limitée', Revue économique 51(6): 1301—31.[CrossRef]
• Lockwood, B. (1991) `Information Externalities in the Labour Market and the Duration of Unemployment', Review of Economic Studies 58(4): 733—54.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Machin, S. and Manning, A. (1999) `The Causes and Consequences of Long-Term Unemployment in Europe', in O. Ashenfelter and D. Card (eds) Handbook of Labor Economics, vol. 3, pp. 3085—3139. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
• Marchal, E. and Rieucau, G. (2006) `Les a priori de la sélection professionnelle: une approche comparative', in F. Eymard-Duvernay (ed.) L'économie des conventions: methodes et résultats, tome 2: Développements, pp. 93—110. Paris: La Découverte. [Coll. Recherches]
• Mortensen, D.T. (1977) `Unemployment Insurance and Job Search Decisions ', Industrial and Labor Relations Review 30(4): 505—17.[CrossRef]
• Orléan, A. (1991) `Logique walrassienne et incertitude qualitative: des travaux d'Akerlof et Stiglitz aux conventions de qualité', Économies et sociétés 14: 137—60. [Série PE]
• Pissarides, C.A. (1992) `Loss of Skill During Unemployment and the Persistence of Employment Shocks', Quarterly Journal of Economics 107(4): 1371—91.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Reynaud, E. (1993) `Le chômage de longue durée: la théorie et l'action ', Revue française de sociologie 34(2): 271—91.[Web of Science]
• Rousseau, D.M. (1995) Psychological Contracts in Organisations: Understanding Written and Unwritten Agreements. London: Sage.
• Salognon, M. (2005) Évaluation de la qualité du travail et chômage de longue durée. University of Paris X-Nanterre: PhD thesis.
• Seibel, C. (1998) `Le chômage de longue durée et les politiques d'emploi ', in T. Atkinson et al. (eds) Rapport du Conseil d'Analyse Économique 6, Pauvreté et Exclusion, pp. 93—112. Paris: La Documentation Française.
• Simonin, B. (2000) `Rechercher un emploi quand on est au chômage', Premières Informations et Premières Synthèses, DARES 16(1), URL (consulted 27 July 2007): http://www.travail.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/2000-16-1_-_Rechercher_un_emploi_quand_on_est_au_chomage.pdf
• Simonin, B. (2003) `Indemnisation, placement, activation: la politique de l'emploi tiraillée entre plusieurs modèles de responsabilité', in C. Bec and G. Procacci (eds) De la responsabilité, pp. 127—47. Paris: Syllepse.
• Stiglitz, J.E. (1987) `The Causes and Consequences of the Dependence of Quality on Price', Journal of Economic Literature 25(1): 1—48.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Transfer (2002) Bilan interne 2002. Unpublished document.
• Transfer (2006) Spécificité des actions IOD: résultats 2005 et données de référence. Unpublished document.
• Weir, M. (1997) `The Uncertain Future of Welfare Reform in the Cities', The Brookings Review 15(1): 30—3.

Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 21, No. 4, 713-730 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0950017007082878


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Salognon, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?