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The apprenticeship hiring aid, by level of diploma
How apprenticeship contracts moved when the hiring aid changed, by level of diploma.
Employers hiring an apprentice received of hiring aid in 2025. Since 2025 the aid has been cut and restored at different dates for higher-education and secondary apprentices, so comparing the two shows how contracts moved when the aid changed. When higher education lost the aid in early 2026, its contracts changed by relative to secondary ones, far more than in months when both had the same aid. The comparison is descriptive. Large firms lost the aid at every level in those months and some contracts may have been postponed, so it does not say how many contracts the aid creates.
Evidence
Employers hiring an apprentice received of hiring aid in 2025. Apprenticeships more than doubled after the aid was opened to all diplomas in 2020. The question is whether they would have grown anyway. Since 2025 the aid has been cut and restored at different dates for apprentices preparing a higher-education diploma and for those preparing a secondary one (CAP to baccalauréat). Comparing the two, month by month, against the same months of 2023 and 2024, when both received €6,000, shows how contracts moved when the aid moved. Without contracts by size of employer, it describes; it does not isolate the aid's effect.
Show the data as a table
| Outcome | Design | Year | Estimate | 95% range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher-education contracts, relative to secondary | 2022, same aid for both (placebo) | 2022 | -1.4% | -4.5% to +1.8% |
| Higher-education contracts, relative to secondary | January-February 2025, no aid for higher education | 2025 | -16.9% | -23.2% to -10.1% |
| Higher-education contracts, relative to secondary | March-December 2025, same aid for both | 2025 | -7.7% | -10.9% to -4.3% |
| Higher-education contracts, relative to secondary | January-February 2026, no aid for higher education | 2026 | -38.1% | -42.8% to -33.0% |
| Higher-education contracts, relative to secondary | March-July 2026, reduced aid for higher education | 2026 | -23.9% | -27.6% to -20.0% |
When higher education lost the aid while secondary kept it, its contracts fell by in early 2025 and by in early 2026, relative to secondary. With the aid cut to €2,000-4,500 from March 2026, they are . In 2022, when both received the same aid, the comparison finds ; but from March to December 2025, with the same aid for both levels in each size of firm, it finds : the ratio was falling without any difference in aid. The early 2026 fall is far outside what runs of two months gave in 2022; the early 2025 fall is not far beyond them.
These figures do not measure an effect per euro. In January and February, firms of 250 employees or more lost the aid at every level, and they employ a larger share of higher-education apprentices, so part of the fall reflects their cut rather than the difference between levels. Firms may also have postponed contracts while a new decree was announced, although no rebound shows from March 2026. Measuring how many contracts each euro creates would need contracts by size of employer and diploma, month by month, which are not published.
From March 2025 the aid fell to €2,000 in firms of 250 employees or more for every level. The bands assume that months are independent and take their noise from 2023 and 2024 alone; each figure's panel also gives the range of the same comparison over runs of as many months in 2022. The year's peak comes in September, not yet published. The code is analysis/apprentices.ml and the results are in periods.csv.
Its own aims
Measured against what it was meant to do
Each aim as the scheme's own texts state it, quoted, then every outcome this site measured against it, with the same design as above: the matched comparison, or the synthetic control. Positive, negative and null results are listed alike. Where no open dataset covers an aim, the dataset it would need is named, with why it is not open. Before them, the article of law that founds the scheme, quoted from Légifrance or the parliamentary record with the dates its wording was in force; after them, the indicators the State set for the programme, as the State reports them, with their source: this site shows them but has not checked them.
In the law, or the nearest official text
Each aim as the founding text states it, with the article and the dates that wording was in force. Where an article states no aim, a line says so, and the aim is quoted from the nearest official text that states one: the bill's explanatory memorandum or impact study, a government instruction, or the programme's performance report.
LOI n° 2018-771 du 5 septembre 2018 pour la liberté de choisir son avenir professionnel (NOR MTRX1808061L), art. 27, I, A, 2° (rewriting code du travail art. L6243-1), version initiale, JORF n° 205 du 6 septembre 2018; L6243-1 in this wording in force since 01/01/2019 (LEGIARTI000037386341) states no aim: Who gets the aid: firms under 250 employees hiring apprentices for a diploma up to the baccalauréat; the article states no aim. The article only sets the target group; the aim is in the étude d'impact of the bill, projet de loi n° 904.
Get small and medium firms to sign apprenticeship contracts for the first qualification levels
« une incitation, pour les TPE/PME, à la conclusion de contrats d’apprentissage pour la préparation de premiers niveaux de qualification »Projet de loi pour la liberté de choisir son avenir professionnel, Assemblée nationale, XVe législature, n° 904, étude d'impact, étude d'impact, article 12, 2.2 « Objectifs poursuivis », bill as tabled, 27 avril 2018
Law art. 27 states no aim; the étude d'impact of the bill (article 12 of the bill, art. 27 of the law) lists the objectives.
Simpler access to the aid so that firms hire more apprentices
« la simplification des formalités dans l’accès au droit, pour que les entreprises aient davantage accès aux aides, et donc soient davantage incitées à embaucher des apprentis. »Projet de loi pour la liberté de choisir son avenir professionnel, Assemblée nationale, XVe législature, n° 904, étude d'impact, étude d'impact, article 12, 2.2 « Objectifs poursuivis », bill as tabled, 27 avril 2018
Same étude d'impact; the first listed objective is « la mise en place d’un système lisible et cohérent ».
Décret n° 2020-1085 du 24 août 2020 relatif à l'aide aux employeurs d'apprentis prévue à l'article 76 de la loi n° 2020-935 du 30 juillet 2020 de finances rectificative pour 2020 (NOR MTRD2020638D), notice (Objet), version initiale, JORF n° 0207 du 25 août 2020; contracts concluded 1 July 2020 to 28 February 2021 states no aim: the notice gives scope and amounts only. First decree of the aide exceptionnelle. Its legal basis is art. 76 of loi n° 2020-935 (LFR 3 for 2020), which states no aim either.
Décret n° 2025-174 du 22 février 2025 relatif à l'aide unique aux employeurs d'apprentis et à l'aide exceptionnelle aux employeurs d'apprentis (NOR TSSD2500064D), notice (Objet), version initiale, JORF n° 0046 du 23 février 2025; in force 24 February 2025 states no aim: the notice gives scope only. The decree that cut the aid in 2025 states no aim; neither does its notice.
Décret n° 2026-168 du 6 mars 2026 relatif à l'aide exceptionnelle aux employeurs d'apprentis (NOR TRSD2535889D), notice (Objet), version initiale, JORF n° 0057 du 7 mars 2026; contracts concluded from 8 March 2026 and starting before 1 January 2027 states no aim: the notice gives scope only. The decree does not end the aid for higher-education contracts: art. 1 II gives 4 500 € (niveau 5) and 2 000 € (niveaux 6-7) in firms under 250, 1 500 € and 750 € in larger firms. It is « un texte autonome » citing no statute but L6243-1.
Loi n° 2020-935 du 30 juillet 2020 de finances rectificative pour 2020 (JORFTEXT000042176557), art. 76, I, premier alinéa, version initiale, JORF n° 0187 du 31 juillet 2020; contrats conclus entre le 1er juillet 2020 et le 28 février 2021 states no aim: extends the aid to diplomas up to niveau 7 and to firms of 250 or more. The legal basis of the aide exceptionnelle states no aim; it was added to the bill by amendment, and the amendment's exposé sommaire was not found. Later decrees (2020-1085, 2025-174, 2026-168) state none either.
In the programme's texts
Help young people into work through apprenticeship
« P103-3 : Faciliter l'insertion dans l'emploi par le développement de l'alternance »Ministère du Travail, Rapport annuel de performances 2025, programme 103, Objectif P103-3, 2026
- Apprenticeship contracts, higher education against secondary: .
Not covered: Employment after the contract: Inserjeunes (DEPP and Dares) publishes employment six months after an apprenticeship by diploma level, open, but a year after the cohort leaves; the contracts signed after the aid for higher-education apprentices ended in early 2026 have not left yet.
The State's own indicators
The indicators the State reports for the programme, with the latest value and the target as it prints them, the report and page they come from, and the open data that could measure each at this site's unit.
| Indicator | Latest value | Target | This site's measure | Source | Open data that could measure it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P103-3-1, programme 103Contrats d'apprentissage conclus au 31 décembre de l'année considérée : Nombre de contrats d’apprentissage conclus au 31 décembre | 846 6832025 | 849 2812025 | contracts2025 | RAP 2025 (PLRG 2025), data.economie.gouv.frRAP 2025 dataset, programme 103, indicator P103-3-1, sous-indicateur « Nombre de contrats d’apprentissage conclus au 31 décembre »; cible 2026 (PAP 2026, carried in the RAP 2025 dataset): 849 281 | Dares PoEm, new apprenticeship contracts by month, secondary (niveaux 3-4) and higher (niveaux 5-7), already read by this site (data/apprentices/contracts.csv). |
| P103-3-1, programme 103Contrats d'apprentissage conclus au 31 décembre de l'année considérée : Part des apprentis préparant un diplôme de niveau 3 et 4 | 40,92025 | 572025 | % of new contracts2025 | RAP 2025 (PLRG 2025), data.economie.gouv.frRAP 2025 dataset, programme 103, indicator P103-3-1, sous-indicateur « Part des apprentis préparant un diplôme de niveau 3 et 4 »; cible 2026 (PAP 2026, carried in the RAP 2025 dataset): 57 | Dares PoEm, new apprenticeship contracts by month, secondary (niveaux 3-4) and higher (niveaux 5-7), already read by this site (data/apprentices/contracts.csv): the share at niveaux 3-4 is the secondary series over the total. |
| P103-3-2, programme 103Taux d'insertion dans l'emploi des salariés ayant bénéficié d'un contrat d'apprentissage : Taux d’insertion dans l'emploi des salariés ayant bénéficié d’un contrat d'apprentissage - tous publics | 62,32025 | 662025 | % employed2023-2024 | RAP 2025 (PLRG 2025), data.economie.gouv.frRAP 2025 dataset, programme 103, indicator P103-3-2, sous-indicateur « Taux d’insertion dans l'emploi des salariés ayant bénéficié d’un contrat d'apprentissage - tous publics »; cible 2026 (PAP 2026, carried in the RAP 2025 dataset): 66 | InserJeunes (DEPP and Dares), employment six months after leaving an apprenticeship, by diploma level and CFA, data.education.gouv.fr (fr-en-inserjeunes-cfa); it lags the contract by a year or more. |
| P364-3-1, programme 364Faciliter l'insertion dans l'emploi des jeunes : Nombre de contrats d’apprentissage conclus au 31 décembre | 878 8712024 | 901 1772024 | contracts2024 | RAP 2024, mission Plan de relance, programme 364 « Cohésion », objectif « Offrir une solution à tous les jeunes »; programme closed after 2024Dataset « Performance : exécution et atteinte de la cible du Budget de l’Etat jusqu’au niveau sous indicateur », année 2024, code_externe_indicateur P364-3-1; cible 2022: 388 900, exécution 2022: 837 029; cible 2023: 800 000, exécution 2023: 852 235 | Dares PoEm, new apprenticeship contracts by month, secondary (niveaux 3-4) and higher (niveaux 5-7), already read by this site (data/apprentices/contracts.csv). |
| P364-3-1, programme 364Faciliter l'insertion dans l'emploi des jeunes : Taux d’insertion dans l'emploi des salariés ayant bénéficié d’un contrat d'apprentissage | 65,52024 | 642024 | % employed2022-2023 | RAP 2024, mission Plan de relance, programme 364 « Cohésion », objectif « Offrir une solution à tous les jeunes »; programme closed after 2024Same dataset, année 2024, code_externe_indicateur P364-3-1; cible 2022: 75, exécution 2022: 64,9; cible 2023: 62, exécution 2023: 63,3 | InserJeunes (DEPP and Dares), employment six months after leaving an apprenticeship, by diploma level and CFA, data.education.gouv.fr (fr-en-inserjeunes-cfa). |
The census outcomes compare 2021 with 2015, so they serve only designs that start in 2015-2017, and no placebo can be run on them; land taken comes from CEREMA's land-registry series, 2011-2024. The aims and their sources are in aims.csv, the texts of law in law.csv, the State's indicators in indicators.csv, and this site's measures of them in measured.csv and, year by year, measured_series.csv.