Contrat de travail

   All private sector and contractual public sector employees working in France under French law require a work contract. There are two basic categories of contract, the CDD (Contrat à durée déterminée) fixed-term contract, and the CDI(Contrat à durée indéterminée) permanent contract. All types of contract must stipulate working conditions and hours, and provide for employee rights in terms of paid holiday. All work contracts provide social security and health cover. On account of the complexities and difficulty of terminating CDI contracts, many employers prefer to use CDD contracts whenever possible, particularly for new recruits and young employees. There are however rules to prevent employers signing successions of CDD contracts where a CDI contract would be quite feasible.

   The complexity of the system is judged to be one of the reasons behind the high level of youth unemployment in France (19.4% in 2007, compared to an EU average of 15.2% according to Eurostat).

   Among proposed reforms to work-place legislations have long been plans to simplify the system of employment contracts, notably with the introduction of a contrat unique, or standard work contract, that no longer distinguishes between-fixed term and permanent contracts.