It does not improve. After deploring in its previous report (2016) the - unjustified - increase in the workforce of the labor inspectorate with the entry into force of the 2006 modernization plan, the Court of Auditors now considers that they have fallen too much and that the organization cannot properly carry out its control missions.
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Its new report on the subject which has just been published draws up, at the request of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, an assessment of the reform initiated since 2013 and called "strong ministry". Carried out at the end of 2019, the survey does not take into account the impact of the coronavirus crisis. And it is also an additional concern noted by the magistrates of the Court of Auditors in their conclusions. According to them, if the reorganization in favor of a more collective functioning and a greater specialization of the teams is " on the right track ", but the accompaniment of the reform in terms of human resources " appears to be its weak point ".
Clearly, the agents assigned to controls are not numerous enough and this will be even more damaging in the context of the health crisis, where the labor inspectorate is particularly requested to monitor the implementation of employee protection measures in businesses, as well as the reality of partial unemployment.
6% decrease in controllers
The magistrates of the rue Cambon thus note that " the workforce of the entire labor inspection system, after having greatly increased over the past 20 years, was preserved for a time, then decreased as of 2017", and that the impact of this 9% drop overall between 2014 and 2018 (6% for agents dedicated to control), is all the more difficult to manage in certain territories, as the needs have not been taken into account .
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The Court, which noted in 2016 that the number of employees covered by an inspection officer was not high enough in France in the light of the recommendations of the International Labor Organization (6,563 versus 10,000 desired), now considers that the rule of l 'ILO " has real limits in its application ". Overall, " the annual number of checks, certainly in progress, is struggling to return to its level of ten years ago, " pointed out the Court.
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For the magistrates, the adequate answer is to “ build a real management of human resources” of the labor inspectorate to make attractive a job whose image is deteriorating. They recommend the setting up of a real training and specialization plan for agents, but also communication efforts to attract candidates for a function with " proven utility for employees and companies ". Finally, the Court stresses the need to experiment with new organizational methods, particularly in the territories where the difficulties in filling posts are most marked.