Réunion's Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESER) published an emergency note in July 2026: State budget cuts to vocational training schemes are directly threatening the insertion tools for an island where 25% of 15-to-29-year-olds are neither in employment, education nor training. CESER calls the situation a social emergency.
Two Schemes Under the Budget Axe
The Regional Skills Investment Pact (PRIC) is facing a 56% cut in national funding — a net loss of €10 million for Réunion in 2026. At the same time, the Employability Pathways scheme (PEC) collapses from 12,000 contracts funded in 2024 to just 4,000 in 2026, a two-thirds reduction. Both cuts stem from the 2026 Finance Bill, which trims State contributions to overseas territories' employment and training budgets.
An Island Already in the Red on Social Indicators
These cuts land in an already fragile social environment. Réunion records a 17% illiteracy rate — nearly three times the national average — and nearly one in four young people between 15 and 29 is NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). This places the island among France's most exposed territories when it comes to youth economic exclusion.
Why It Matters
Training is not a social cost — it is an economic investment. Every person placed through a PEC or a vocational scheme represents a new contributor to social insurance, reduced welfare spending and human capital for Réunion's businesses. Cutting these schemes in a structurally high-unemployment island, at the very moment it is positioning itself as a regional digital hub under the 'New Economy Act II', is both an economic mistake and a social injustice. CESER's emergency note deserves a national response.