Unemployment: obligation to seek employment (PPAE)

Verified 20 December 2021 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Contract of employment of the job seeker registered in France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi)

Published on 1 January 2024

The job seeker's employment contract will replace the personalized project of access to employment (PPAE) no later than 1er january 2025.

The employment contract will include an action plan setting out the objectives for implementing the job seeker's professional project to promote his return to employment.

An implementing decree must specify the procedures for implementing the contract of employment.

That is what the provisions of the law of 18 december 2023 on full employment.

If you are a jobseeker, you need to do some research to find a new job, regardless of your nationality. You must participate, with your France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) advisor, in the development and updating of your personalized job access project (PPAE). You must accept a job offer called reasonable, that is to say, corresponding to your professional skills.

The rules are different if you live in the Center-Val de Loire and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regions or in another region.

General case

The job search requirement applies if you are considered as a job seeker immediately available.

This is the case if you are in one of the following situations at the time of your registration to France Travail:

  • You have no professional activity, no professional training and your personal situation allows you to work without delay
  • You work (or have worked in the previous month) an occasional or reduced activity not exceeding 78 hours per month
  • You receive training for a total of no more than 40 hours or that enables you to work simultaneously (evening courses or correspondence courses for example)
  • You are absent from your usual place of residence, after having notified France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi), within 35 days per calendar year
  • You are on sick leave, paternity leave or temporary incapacity for work, for a period not exceeding 15 days
  • You are incarcerated for no more than 15 days

Not later than 30 days after inclusion on the list of jobseekers, you must work with your France Travail advisor to develop a PPAE.

The EAP takes into account your training, qualifications, professional knowledge and skills, personal and family circumstances and local labor market conditions.

Your PPAE provides all of the following information:

  • Nature and characteristics of the job sought
  • Preferred geographical area
  • Desired salary level

Your PPAE also defines the actions that France Travail commits to implement (for example, training and mobility aid).

The period for updating the PPAE is decided with France Travail.

A job seeker who is immediately available for employment has an obligation to participate in the definition and updating of the EAP. Refusal to develop or update the EAP is a reason for expungement of France Travail.

You must respond to written summonses from France Travail (interviews, briefings, etc.).

Every month, you must update your situation.

You must complete regular job search procedures as part of your personalized project for access to employment (PPAE).

You must be able to provide France Travail with a justification, for example:

  • Job searches by producing copies of your applications
  • Employer responses to your applications
  • Your efforts to create or take over a company

You must accept an offer called reasonable employment, i.e. corresponding to your professional skills.

If not, you can be written off the list of jobseekers.

Your PPAE is updated periodically.

During this update, your France Travail advisor will define with you the constituent elements of the reasonable job offer.

Please note

The job seeker's employment contract will replace the personalized project of access to employment (PPAE) no later than 1er january 2025.

The employment contract will include an action plan setting out the objectives for implementing the job seeker's professional project to promote his return to employment.

The refusal on two successive occasions of a reasonable offer of employment may be grounds for removal from the list of jobseekers.

You do not have to accept part-time employment if your PSEP states that you are looking for a full-time job.

You are not obliged to accept a job whose salary is lower than the normal salary in the region and occupation concerned.

You do not have to accept a job that is not compatible with your professional qualifications and skills.

Center-Val de Loire and Burgundy-Franche-Comté

The job search requirement applies if you are considered as a job seeker immediately available.

This is the case if you are in one of the following situations at the time of your registration to France Travail:

  • You have no professional activity, no professional training and your personal situation allows you to work without delay
  • You work (or have worked in the previous month) an occasional or reduced activity not exceeding 78 hours per month
  • You receive training for a total of no more than 40 hours or that enables you to work simultaneously (evening courses or correspondence courses for example)
  • You are absent from your usual place of residence, after having notified France Travail, within 35 days per calendar year
  • You are on sick leave, paternity leave or temporary incapacity for work, for a period not exceeding 15 days
  • You are incarcerated for no more than 15 days

Not later than 30 days after inclusion on the list of jobseekers, you must work with your France Travail advisor to develop a PPAE.

The EAP takes into account your training, qualifications, professional knowledge and skills, personal and family circumstances and local labor market conditions.

Your PPAE provides all of the following information:

  • Nature and characteristics of the job sought
  • Preferred geographical area
  • Desired salary level

Your PPAE also defines the actions that France Travail commits to implement (for example, training and mobility aid).

The period for updating the PPAE is decided with France Travail.

A job seeker who is immediately available for employment has an obligation to participate in the definition and updating of the EAP. Refusal to develop or update the EAP is a reason for expungement of France Travail.

You must respond to written summonses from France Travail (interviews, briefings, etc.).

Every month, you must update your situation.

You must complete regular job search procedures as part of your personalized project for access to employment (PPAE).

You must be able to provide France Travail with a justification, for example:

  • Job searches by producing copies of your applications
  • Employer responses to your applications
  • Your efforts to create or take over a company

You must enter the status of your job search in your job search log.

The purpose of the experiment is to measure the effects of the obligation to provide additional information on the job-seeker's support.

The diary is used to measure return to employment, detection and prevention of dropout in job search.

You must accept an offer called reasonable employment, i.e. corresponding to your professional skills.

If not, you can be written off the list of jobseekers.

Your PPAE is updated periodically.

During this update, your France Travail advisor will define with you the constituent elements of the reasonable job offer.

Please note

The job seeker's employment contract will replace the personalized project of access to employment (PPAE) no later than 1er january 2025.

The employment contract will include an action plan setting out the objectives for implementing the job seeker's professional project to promote his return to employment.

The refusal on two successive occasions of a reasonable offer of employment may be grounds for removal from the list of jobseekers.

You do not have to accept part-time employment if your PSEP states that you are looking for a full-time job.

You are not obliged to accept a job whose salary is lower than the normal salary in the region and occupation concerned.

You do not have to accept a job that is not compatible with your professional qualifications and skills.