More than 40,000 young people in Brittany are currently disconnected from work and school—a stark snapshot of a broader national problem France is trying to tackle without adding new funding.
Centre Inffo, a public body focused on vocational training information based in Saint-Denis with about 20 employees, recently highlighted the figure: 40,150 people ages 15 to 29 in Brittany are neither employed, nor in education, nor in training. The group is commonly labeled “NEET,” for “Not in Employment, Education or Training.”
Nationally, the picture is similar. An Insee study found that in the fourth quarter of 2025, 12.9% of people in France ages 15 to 29 were NEET—about one in eight young adults outside the usual pathways into jobs or credentials.
Brittany’s 40,150 NEET young people—and why many stay out of reach
The article points to several vulnerabilities that can hit young people in Brittany particularly hard: rural areas far from major job centers, limited transportation density, and gaps in close-to-home support. And the 40,150 NEET young people are not a single, uniform group.
Some have degrees but are discouraged. Others never completed training. Many, the data suggest, are effectively invisible to existing programs designed to help people enter the workforce.
The persistence of the problem comes through in the numbers despite years of targeted policies. The article cites multiple tools that have existed for years—subsidized “assisted contracts,” the “emplois d’avenir” program created in 2012 for 16- to 25-year-olds without diplomas or living in designated priority neighborhoods, and workplace immersion periods (PMSMP) prescribed by France Travail—yet none has been enough to sustainably shrink the pool of young people who have fallen out of the system.
France’s “Emploi futur” plan: 15 measures, no additional budget
With youth unemployment rising, the French government has presented a strategy called “Emploi futur,” built around 15 measures. The stated premise: act without mobilizing additional funding.
The plan aims to steer young people toward the labor market by leaning on existing tools, including the PMSMP. These company “immersion” periods can last up to one month and allow a young person followed by France Travail—France’s national employment agency—to try out a role without signing an employment contract. They can be renewed, up to two agreements with the same employer.
The approach is a gamble, the article argues: recycling existing instruments without new money means betting on better coordination rather than new resources. Recent French employment-policy history suggests that kind of strategy rarely delivers results proportional to the scale of the problem.
A disconnect that also raises questions about vocational training
Centre Inffo frames Brittany’s figure as part of a wider issue that goes beyond job placement. NEET status is also tied to initial training, school guidance, and whether available skills match what employers are looking for.
The article points to the digital sector as an example: it faces a persistent shortage of qualified profiles even as thousands of young people remain outside any professional track. Software publishers and tech companies struggle to find talent, while tens of thousands of young people—especially in Brittany—remain off the radar of insertion programs.
That structural paradox—unfilled openings on one side, young people with neither jobs nor training on the other—is central to what “Emploi futur” claims it can fix. But the article notes that 15 measures with no new budget, set against 40,150 young people in Brittany alone, leaves limited room for short-term optimism.
PMSMP workplace immersions: flexible, but still underused
Among the tools available, the PMSMP is described as one of the few flexible options that can be tailored to individual situations. Prescribed by France Travail or an organization focused on workforce insertion through economic activity, it does not require an employment contract. It can last up to one month, either continuously or split up depending on the participant’s needs.
The prescriber—whether a France Travail counselor or an insertion support professional—sets objectives based on the young person’s abilities and the host organization’s expectations. The agreement governing the PMSMP spells out the mission, attendance terms, and each party’s commitments.
For young people farthest from employment, the immersion can be a first step. But the article stresses that it depends on human support beforehand, connecting the young person with a host company, and follow-up after the immersion—three requirements that take time, resources, and available professionals. The “Emploi futur” plan, as presented, does not create those resources outright.
