Territoires zéro chômeur de longue durée, 27 January 2026
Territoires zéro chômeur de longue durée (TZCLD – “Zero Long-Term Unemployment Territories”) brings to life a simple yet powerful idea: the right to employment for all.
For nearly ten years, this French experiment has shown that it is possible, at the local level, to end long-term unemployment by starting from people’s capacities and the needs of their communities.
Built on three founding principles — no one is unemployable, useful work exists, and money is not the main obstacle once we account for the human and social costs of unemployment — Territoires zéro chômeur de longue durée embodies a major social innovation. It proves that it is possible to offer everyone a permanent, meaningful, and self-chosen job, by mobilizing local solidarity and the creativity of the social and solidarity economy.
Today, this initiative is inspiring countries across Europe and beyond and attracting the attention of international organizations, alongside other job guarantee experiments around the world. From Belgium to Italy, from Austria to Germany, from the Netherlands to South Africa, stakeholders are drawing inspiration from it or adapting this territorial approach to the right to employment. From the United Nations to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the OECD, the French Development Agency (AFD), and the World Bank, international experts are embracing this methodology as a transferable model.
In Europe, it was the European Commission for Employment and Social Rights that, in June 2023, created a €23 million ESF+ Social Innovation fund dedicated to developing Territoires zéro chômeur de longue durée–type projects to help tackle this issue. 76 projects from 20 countries were submitted — the majority directly inspired by the French initiative. This mobilization demonstrates the strong interest and commitment of local and international actors in developing innovative solutions to combat long-term unemployment across Europe.
As France prepares to debate a bill that would make the TZCLD approach permanent, we — international actors committed to fighting long-term unemployment — call on the French government and Parliament for the preservation of this innovative initiative and the spirit that makes it so powerful and original: local co-construction, employment as a fundamental right, and the recognition of useful work and everyone’s contribution to community life.
Territoires zéro chômeur de longue durée shows that a society can choose to organize work differently — starting from people’s need for employment, not just available jobs positions.
France has opened the way. Now it must confirm this path — by anchoring it in law and in its collective future.