France's Macron targets apprentices in labour market shake-up

In a warehouse outside Paris, university drop-out Celine Galland stacks palettes and fills out an inventory sheet, part of a logistics apprenticeship she hopes will put a decade of short-term contracts and unemployment behind her.

France's jobless rate has sat stubbornly above 9 percent for nearly a decade. President Emmanuel Macron blames a notoriously rigid labour market and has two ideas to change it: more vocational training for school leavers and making it easier for workers to retrain and change jobs.

On Nov. 10, his government will open talks with unions, business leaders and the regions on how to reform the apprentice system, cutting through its bureaucracy and financing.

The former investment banker promises an extra 15 billion euros ($17 billion) for professional training over five years, but beyond the money he will need to counter public prejudice if he is to reverse a slide in apprentice numbers.

University did not sit well with Galland, who quit after several weeks. Since then the 31-year-old has worked at menial jobs in McDonald's and local supermarkets.

"What I love about this is the variety of tasks," she enthused last week at an AFTRAL logistics and transport training centre in Savigny-le-Temple, east of Paris. "There's no boredom in this job."

France's unemployment rate is more than double Britain's and several points higher than Germany's. Particularly troubling for Macron's centrist government is youth unemployment - nearly one in four 15-24 year olds are without a job, according to official data, a major drag on long-term growth.

Macron has already defied union-led street protests to loosen labour laws, necessary he says to make hiring and firing workers cheaper and easier for small companies.