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Project Initiator: Vivre Les Mureaux PTCE | Year(s) of support: 2020-2022 |
Support provided: Creating a vocational school, identifying the young people who will benefit | Amount provided: 180,000 euros |
Location: Les Mureaux, France |
Air Liquide Monitor: Christine Jauffret-Gotti, Director of the EuroCryospace & Spatial Division in Les Mureaux, Air Liquide Advanced Technologies |
The town of Les Mureaux is facing a high unemployment rate in its younger population. In early 2020, around 700 young people living in Les Mureaux had applied to the local employment office, reporting major problems finding employment due to the poor reputation of Les Mureaux, their lack of workplace knowledge, not having finished school, etc.
Despite this, many advertised positions in technical fields go unfilled for months on end. For instance, 285 job postings for positions in the field of hazardous materials deliveries went unfilled in the Seine-Aval catchment area before the crisis. Why is that? A serious skills shortage coupled with the fact that young people are unaware of these fields. There is an urgent need to revitalize the Les Mureaux area, change its image and build bridges between companies and young residents.
34% of young residents of Les Mureaux between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed compared to 22% nationwide
Providing ongoing support so that motivated young people can find stable employment is the goal of the Vivre les Mureaux PTCE and the Air Liquide Foundation. To make this a reality, we will create a vocational school that teaches soft skills and provides technical certifications. Over the next three years, the school plans to help 240 young people without specialized training gain the skills needed for in-demand technical fields such as welding, digital services and driving commercial vehicles carrying hazardous materials. We would like to eventually roll this program out nationwide. Nearly 15 other regions identified by the Ministry of Regional Cohesion could benefit from the Les Mureaux experiment.
The first class of about ten young people between 17 and 24 years old is welcomed from February 8, 2021 in the vocational school for in-demand technical careers!
The training is provided by qualified instructors at Ecquevilly & Les Mureaux. When their training is complete, the students will have earned professional welding certificates.
Each training program includes two stages:
During the training phase, the students take classes in theory, learn trade skills and complete an internship at a company. When the training is complete, they go through a mentoring program that helps the graduates in their job search (writing resumes, mock interviews, help finding jobs, and transitioning into a company).
Local teams from Air Liquide entities are working with the project to help analyze the needs of the local ecosystems and to provide mentoring to the beneficiaries:
Vivre Les Mureaux PTCE’s three years of work in remobilization and their strong relationships forged by their community efforts enabled the PTCE to identify young people who have no workplace experience and no idea these technical fields existed and help put them on the path to employment.
The Foundation is covering the engineering costs for the project as well as the efforts to find candidates for the program. It is helping to analyze the local ecosystem and create a coalition of partners. The foundation is also connecting with local Air Liquide teams so they can share their technical expertise and mentor the young candidates.