A study, carried out by EDHEC's Economics Research Centre entitled Would a New Form of Employment Contract Provide Greater Security for French Workers? analyses the economic consequences of the main employment measures proposed by the presidential candidates. Dealing with the issue of the new reform, the Uniform Employment Contract proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy, it proposes new measures to reduce unequal treatment between protected workers and those that are in precarious situations and could potentially create more than 500,000 jobs in the long term.

Since the opening of the EDHEC Economics Research Centre, the evaluation of public policy and reform of the State has been a priority. The strategy developed by the Research Centre is to carry out academic research work of international stature and to promote the results and the lessons learned from the research to political and economic decision-makers through an active communication policy and participation in the public debate.

One of the main findings of the Centre's study is that significant job protection should be provided as soon as the trial period ends and applied in a uniform manner regardless of the employee's age or time spent with the employer. While recognising that François Bayrou and Nicolas Sarkozy have had the merit of taking up the uniform employment contract in order to put an end to the increasing numbers of employment contracts and the segmentation of the job market, the EDHEC study highlights the risk represented by provisions based on acquiring progressive rights, which could have negative results both in terms of job stability and the unemployment of seniors.

The study focuses on the varying effects of the measures required to implement this uniform contract, according to the age of the workers concerned and stresses that companies need to act responsibly: taxes paid by employers (solidarity contribution) must for the most part be paid into the state unemployment benefit scheme to ensure that it is companies that bear this cost, and not paid directly to workers in the form of compensation, as such payments are often unfairly negotiated on the basis of the employee's status in the company.

In exchange for this responsible action, EDHEC suggests that the company be rewarded by simplifying as much as possible the procedures to be respected when dismissing workers and by limiting the options available to workers to seek legal assistance from the state conciliation services (Conseil des Prud'hommes). Finally, the company should be exempt from having to relocate dismissed workers, a service that is currently handled by professionals within the framework of the state employment services.

Numerical simulations from a model that takes into consideration the major institutional characteristics of the French job market indicate that a solidarity contribution limited to 4 months' salary would allow for a maximum gain in employment, while also being favourable to workers under the age of 30. According to EDHEC's estimates, the extension of the permanent contract (CDI) to all workers, together with a solidarity contribution equalling four months' salary, would generate at least 500,000 jobs in the long term.