This topic confuses and troubles me a lot, because I have some relatives and acquaintances (in their twenties) in France who can't seem to find interesting, stable work, try as they might, except thankless part-time jobs and slavish internships (stages), and I cannot tell whether they are among the unlucky minority, or if they are in fact more representative of that age group.

However, this graphic was somewhat helpful to me:

It seems to indicate that if you are under 26, and do not have a technical or professional degree (Bacs professionel ou technologique), then you will have a higher chance of obtaining a permanent work contract (CDI) if you continue studying until you get a "graduate degree" (Deuxième cycle), and even more chance with a post-graduate degree (Troisième cycle) -- assuming I'm reading it right.

If that is general knowledge young people, and if higher education is free (which I believe it is in France by and large), then presto, you have 60% of 15-24 year olds enrolled in school trying to get higher and higher degrees.

The chart would help a lot more if it gave percentages of people who have each respective level of education.

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