“Industrialisation policies cannot be designed separately from training policies”

 French public debate has focussed in recent years on a central issue: the later years of people's careers. But by concentrating on the end of working life, we have relegated the early years of careers to the background. The beginning of careers, the place of young people in our joint project, their role in the economy and in democracy have become blind spots in the national debate.

Rebalancing our national narrative does not mean setting the generations against each other. It means devoting as much energy to the beginning of careers as to their end. The education, training and entry into the workplace of young people should be considered a strategic investment, just like our infrastructure and industrial policy. Youth should be put back at the heart of our joint project. 

Training to re-industrialise. Supporting to innovate. Providing prospects to reinforce civic engagement. As we embark on a long period of elections, it is high time we began to once more see young people not as a problem to be managed but as a force to drive us forward. 

What place do we assign to young people in the France we wish to build for ten or twenty years’ time? What role do we give them in re-industrialisation, the ecological transition or technological sovereignty? Such questions are asked for too rarely 

Industrial sovereignty is not just a phrase. It is based on men and women who are trained, capable of innovating, producing, and managing strategic businesses. Industrialisation policies cannot be designed separately from training policies. The training of engineers, managers, digital or energy experts, is not just an academic issue, it is a matter of national competitiveness. 

As for businesses, they have ever-increasing requirements. They expect the younger generation to have a thorough mastery of all things digital and of AI, the ability to work in a team, and an understanding of climate and geopolitical issues. But business also needs to understand these new generations, their aspirations, their relationship with work, their search for meaning. 

This is where the three-way relationship between higher education, business and young people is crucial. Institutions of higher education, in particular the ‘Grandes Ecoles’ because of their historical proximity to the world of economics, are in a unique position: they are both the gateway to the real economy and first-hand observers of generational transformations. They can see new expectations emerging, new forms of engagement, new ways of working. They can therefore act as mediators and help create the conditions for a constructive dialogue between young people and business. 

To take an interest in young people, and in their place in society and the economy, is also to take an interest in democratic vitality. We often hear about the electoral disengagement of young people. This is rarely examined in light of the content of the public debate. If major national positions rarely mention their future, their role in the country, the society we wish to pass on to them, how can we be surprised if they are turning away?

In other European countries, there is greater intergenerational focus in public discourse: “What kind of country are we leaving to our children? How can we help them grasp the major challenges of the future so they can ensure the country remains competitive and can lead major transformations? How can we fully involve them in decisions affecting their future and their future well-being?” 

These questions should be asked just as persistently in France. Not just for the sake of asking them but as a central thread of public policy and future planning.

This article was published in the newspaper La Tribune.