Over the past 30 years, considerable use has been made by the French government of contract-based arrangements for implementing vocational training and employment policies. Three major types of contracts have been used: ‘meta-contracts’ that bind governments at state and regional levels; contracts by objectives between public agencies and social partners such as peak business organisations and unions, which attempt to shape the governance of training and access to work programmes; and different types of individual contracts between employers and workers to improve the qualifications and employability of disadvantaged people. Taking into account the French institutional context, this paper considers both the kinds of coordination required by these schemes, and their evolution over time. It shows that this attempt to set up a French-style social market economy has been a partial failure. © 2005 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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