Number of employers benefiting from the ‘Non-merchant EPA’ scheme

The Employment Promotion Aid (EPA) was introduced by the Decree of 25 April 2002, which responds to the wish to harmonise into a single subsidy system all the measures to support the employment of jobseekers existing in 2002, namely: Third Circuit du Travail (TCT), Regional Labour Market Integration Project (PRIME), Interdepartmental Budget Fund for Employment (FBIE), Subsidised Contractual Agent (ACS), Programme Law, ACS Local Authorities, A.R. 258 and Decree of 19 May 1994. This scheme supports the recruitment of jobseekers in different sectors: local authorities, regional and Community authorities, the market sector, the non-market sector and education (through cooperation agreements with the French Community). The principle is to grant annual aid in the form of points to partially subsidise the remuneration of workers. Only EPAs relating to the non-market sector are considered here. The indicators presented are: 1. the number of projects: a project corresponds to a dossier submitted by an employer to apply for EPA points and which has been successful. 2. the number of employers: an employer corresponds to an enterprise unit within the meaning of the Bank Carrefour des Entreprises (ECB). Companies are considered on the basis of the location of their head office. 3. the number of points awarded: a point is defined in the Decree of 25 April 2002. The value of the EPA point, set at EUR 2 970.86 in 2013, is automatically indexed according to the evolution of the health index.