Les pratiques d’activité réduite et leurs impacts sur les trajectoires professionnelles : une revue de la littérature

The reduced-activity system aims to diminish the disincentive effects of unemployment benefits by allowing jobseekers to combine paid activity and job search, and at the same time to gain at least partial unemployment benefits as well as the wage for this activity. Our review of the theoretical and empirical literature seeks to determine whether this system (which only concerns temporary or part-time jobs) allows a sustainable integration into the labour market. It shows that the expected theoretical effects on the career trajectories of job seekers and on the quality of new jobs are ambiguous and require empirical investigations. National and international empirical studies then highlight the need to distinguish between short-term and long-term effects and that there is a strong heterogeneity of impacts between job seekers. Nevertheless, in France, reduced activities seem to boost access to long-term jobs, but with mild effects. However, they do not seem to improve or to damage the quality of the subsequent job. Classification JEL : J42, J64, J65