Country report France - Construction Labour Research

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European Institute for Construction Labour Research – Country Report FranceCLRTable 3: Transsectoral Development of the Most Significant Violations of the Law Since 19951995 1997 2001 2002 2003 2004Concealed Labour 71.0% 72.3% 82.1% 77.6% 76.3% 76.0%Other Offences 21.3% 21.0% 9.0% 9.9% 14.4% 14.4%Employment of Foreigners without a Work Permit 5.3% 4.0% 7.1% 10.0% 7.0% 7.2%Unlawful Trafficking of Labour or Inadmissible Supply 2.4% 2.7% 1.8% 2.5% 2.3% 2.3%of Temporary WorkersSource: DILTI 2005bA detailed analysis of transsectoral violations of the law (in 2004) shows that within thedominant violations “concealed employment” above all the concealed employment of workersis the one to which the majority of infringements and criminal offences are attributable (Table4). The share of 41% of the “concealed employment of workers with deliberate lack ofDPAE” suggests this. 4 The recorded proportion of violations of the tax laws (2.2%) isremarkably small, as is, contrary to a frequently made diagnosis (e.g. EUROSTAT 2001), thefraud with regard to wage-compensating benefits in the context of undeclared labour with justa half percent, or the employment of foreigners without a work permit (7.18%).Table 4: Types of Violation of the Law in 2004, TranssectoralViolation of the LawNumber of Violations Percentageof the LawConcealed employment of workers with intentional failure to issue a DPAE 3952 41.12%Failure to register the enterprise 1460 15.19%Failure to register with social insurance 777 8.08%Employment of a foreigner without a work permit 690 7.18%Concealed employment of workers and intentionally not issuing a pay slip 629 654%Various violations in connection with illegal work 661 6.85%Claiming services which were carried out by illegal labour 320 3.33%Failure to complete a tax declaration 277 2.88%Partial concealment of hours worked 206 2.14%Missing DPAE 204 2.12%Banned supply of temporary employees 152 1.58%Trafficking of labour 73 0.76%Assistance to foreigners in illegally crossing borders and staying 62 0.65%Illegal accumulation of employment relationships 44 0.46%Violation of regulations regarding payslips 38 0.40%Illegal drawing of wage-compensation benefits 26 0.27%Use of bogus self-employed 20 0.21%Supplementary welfare benefit fraud 20 0.21%Number of violations 9611 100.00%Source: DILTI 2005bTable 5 specifies violations of the law ascertained in 2004 in construction according to tradebranches. If first of all one compares the sub-sector data of construction with the transsectoraldata (Table 4), it stands out that the proportion of the respective forms of illegal labourcorrespond approximately to the transsectoral percentage rates. This may be an indication thatthe nature of the phenomenon of undeclared labour in the construction industry is notsubstantially different from other sectors. The majority of the violations concern the use of4 It should be added that the classical illicit work in private households is more difficult to check under Frenchlaw, because a visible indication of undeclared employment must exist from outside the flat or house, so that thesupervisory body (police) can demand access in accordance with judicial authorization. In this respect it may beassumed that the real proportion is greater. According to the opinion of an interlocutor of the DILTI it may be“the best known but the least punished” form of undeclared labour.14
European Institute for Construction Labour Research – Country Report FranceCLRconcealed labour, at about 40%, in connection with a violation against the DPAE regulations.Notable deviations from the transsectoral average occur first and foremost in the event ofviolation of the law by enterprises failing to register. Here the percentage rate in constructionacross all sub-sectors with 10.7% stands clearly below the transsectoral average of 15.2%.Therefore, even if the figures do not allow any further differentiation, informal enterprises andself-employed seem to be less frequent than in the transsectoral average. Likewise, belowaverage values occurred for construction in concealment of actual hours worked (0.7% to2.1%). On the other hand clearly above average values are to be noted for illegal employmentof foreigners (10.2% to 7.2%). What is more, it is also noteworthy that – at low level – crimesin connection with supply of labour-only or labour trafficking in construction are clearly morefrequently ascertained than in the transsectoral average (2.7% or 1.4% to 1.58% or 0.76%).Table 5: Types of Violation of the Law in the Construction Industry, 2004Violation of the Law DemolitionandExcavationCivilEngineeringPipingUse of concealed employment,deliberate omission of preliminarydeclaration of engagement (DPAE)FinishingtradesConstructionOverall34 44.1% 768 40.9% 103 37.9% 121 36.3% 1026 40.10%Contractor’s failure to register 6 7.8% 183 9.7% 30 11.0% 56 16.8% 275 10.7%Employment of a foreigner without awork permit3 3.9% 207 11.0% 27 9.9% 24 7.2% 261 10.2%Failure to register with social insurance 2 2.6% 149 7.9% 21 7.7% 20 6.0% 192 75%Various violations with regard to illegalwork7 9.1% 141 7.5% 22 8.1% 23 6.9% 199 7.6%Use of concealed labour, deliberatefailure to issue a pay slip 6 7.8% 126 6.7% 17 6.3% 25 7.5% 174 6.8%Use of undeclared labour 5 6.5% 90 4.8% 14 5.1% 27 8.1% 136 5.3%Illegal supply of labour 7 9.1% 55 2.9% 6 2.2% 1 0.3% 69 2.7%Failure to pay tax 2 2.6% 43 2.3% 10 3.7% 11 3.3% 66 2.6%Illegal labour trafficking 1 1.3% 29 1.5% 4 1.5% 2 0.6% 36 1.4%Violation of the regulations forpreliminary declaration of hire (DPAE) 2 2.6% 19 1.0% 7 2.6% 7 2.1% 35 1.4%Assistance to a foreigner for illegalborder crossing and stay1 1.3% 19 1.0% 4 1.5% 7 2.1% 31 1.2%Concealment of part of the hoursworked0 0.0% 15 0.8% 0 0.0% 3 0.9% 18 0.7%Failure to display a notice of works inprogress (permis de construire) 0 0.0% 6 0.3% 2 0.7% 1 0.3% 9 0.8%Illegal acceptance of social benefits bythe unemployedAssistance to a foreigner for illegalborder crossing and stay0 0.0% 8 0.4% 1 0.4% 0 0.0% 9 0.4%0 0.0% 6 0.3% 0 0.0% 3 0.9% 9 0.4%Missing despatch advice 0 0.0% 6 0.3% 3 1.1% 0 0.0% 9 0.3%Social benefit fraud 1 1.3% 4 0.2% 1 0.4% 2 0.6% 8 0.3%Illegal accumulation of employmentrelationships0 0.0% 2 0.1% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 2 0.1%Assistance in income support fraud 0 0.0% 2 0.1% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 2 0.1%Total 77 100.0% 1878 100.0% 272 100.0% 333 100.0% 2560 100.0%Source: DILTI 2005b, own calculations15
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Country report France - Construction Labour Research

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