Question 9783 — employment and activity

Summary

The Government shares the observation of the essential role played by mid-sized companies (ETI) in the French economy: they employ more than 25% of employees, carry out 26% of private research and development (R&D) spending and 38% of private investments. However, France experiences a recurring deficit of ETIs, in particular large ETIs: with just over 5,800 ETIs in 2015 the number of ETIs in France is progressing but remains behind our European neighbors, particularly Germany; 64% of our mid-sized companies have fewer than 500 employees. Furthermore, the weight of SMEs, the breeding ground for tomorrow's mid-sized companies, in the French economy remains modest in terms of salaried jobs (28%), added value (23%), or share of exports (13% of their turnover is generated through exports). This situation reflects a delay in relation to our European neighbors, notably the German Mittelstand. Creating an environment favorable to the development of our businesses is a constant concern of the Government. Several structuring measures have already been taken since the start of the five-year term, such as the reform of labor law and social dialogue, transformation of the CICE into reduction of social contributions, reduction of the corporate tax rate to 25% by 2022, transformation of the ISF into an IFI, establishment of a “flat tax” on capital income and creation of the Fund for Innovation and Industry. Furthermore, the Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation (PACTE), the legislative component of which was adopted at first reading in the National Assembly on October 9, pursues three major objectives: growing our businesses, rethinking the place of businesses in society and better associate employees with their results. The PACTE contains several measures aimed at activating the growth levers of SMEs so that they become the mid-sized companies of tomorrow. Thus, business growth will be simplified thanks to an in-depth reform of workforce thresholds. The latter will be grouped around the levels of 11, 50 and 250 employees, the methods of calculating the workforce will be harmonized and a deadline of five years will be instituted to meet the obligations. A threshold will only be considered to have been crossed if it has been reached for five consecutive years. Several measures of the PACTE bill will also make it possible to diversify the sources of financing for companies such as the reform of retirement savings, strengthening the role of life insurance in financing the economy, simplification of companies' access to financial markets, development of the issuance of preferred shares, etc. Finally, the bill provides for several measures to simplify the process for researchers wishing to create or participate in the life of a company, which will make it possible, by strengthening the links between these two worlds, to strengthen the potential for promoting public research and the technological irrigation of the national economic fabric.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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