Induced Labour Mobility through Continuing Vocational Training: Investigating Its Development and Role in the French Context during the Last Three Decades.

Introduced in 1971, the French "Continuing Vocational Training (CVT)" system was designed to promote workers'"socio-professional promotion." The contribution of its induced mobility to the fulfillment of this objective has always been considered as one of its key performance indicators. Outcomes of the CVT over the last 3 decades were examined, using the French National Board for Statistics' successive surveys on Vocational Training and Qualifications. The results confirm the general tendency of an increasing horizontal mobility in the workforce at the expense of a declining promotional mobility (known for its high link with socio-professional promotion). Various groups of employees were identified, from those needing structure to autonomous types dedicated mostly to their own careers. With the old industrial-model hierarchical structures disappearing and being replaced with flat organizations, fewer employees were dedicated to their employers and fewer were able to move into higher socio-professional employment categories. The second section of this paper examines the concomitant change in the dynamics of vocational identity formation processes affecting the performance of the CVT system during the same period. (Contains 27 references.) (KC)