Youth employment is doing poorly, especially due to the coronavirus crisis.

However, despite this observation, the apprenticeship figures are breaking records.

In the automobile industry, as elsewhere, this practice is increasingly widespread and sought after.

The 2020 school year is the best in history for apprenticeship, according to the Ministry of Labor.

While France is in the midst of an economic and health crisis due to the coronavirus, this practice has broken all records despite the poor figures for youth employment.

Two explanations can be advanced.

First, a new way of counting the number of apprentices.

Then, the financial interest that the latter can present for companies which are, precisely, in a complex situation.

The profiles of the young people recruited also make them prime candidates for the companies that hire them. 

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A record year

Over the whole of 2020, 495,000 contracts were signed, which represents an increase of nearly 40% compared to 2019. The explanation is first of all technical: part of the increase is explained by a transfer within the alternation between professionalization contracts and apprenticeship.

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Beyond that, the practice really aroused a lot of interest last year.

The companies' calculation is simple: the cost is now almost zero.

The government has in fact introduced bonuses to encourage SMEs, in particular, to recruit them.

A profitable strategy since in the automotive industry, for example, according to figures from the CNPA, the number of apprentices trained in 2020 has increased by 12%.

The passion of young people ...

In this sector as in others, passion often gets involved.

Anthony, 20, is in his first year of BTS vehicle maintenance, but he has been tinkering with engines since he was 12 years old.

This path was obvious to him.

"It's my passion, since I was little, I always knew that I wanted to go in this branch there. I started. I do not regret at all", he explains.

He is convinced that with the electrification of cars, there will be new needs.

Same course and same observation for Léa, also 20 years old.

She first tried studying medicine before moving to mechanics.

Now, she can even give some advice to her father, who is trained in the heat engine.

"We learn more about what is evolving. Suddenly, I have more knowledge, for example, than my father who sometimes knows a little less than me about hybrids and electrics," she says.

... and the interest of recruiters

And this desire which drives young people pleases recruiters.

Alexandre Monfort, deputy general manager of the Horizon group, considers that "apprenticeship is always the field of excellence: we have young people whose motivation we have been able to test. We have the prospect of seeing them evolve and have great success. career paths ".

In his group, 10% of the workforce is actually apprentices or work-study.

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Only problem, everything does not work perfectly.

Certain sectors are less attractive than others and the profiles of candidates are not always those hoped for.

Those who benefit the most are baccalaureate students and above, which may suggest a small windfall effect.

Hence the alert from the Ministry of Labor: we must be careful to develop apprenticeship in all trades where it is the only way of entry.