stood at 63 %, which was roughly identical to the german rate ( 64 % ) xiii, it is now clearly lagging behind even though it has started rising ( 67 % compared to 75 % ). xiv this gap is partly due to the more widespread use of part - time work and work - study schemes in germany. nevertheless, for a working - age population of just over 40 million people, this gap represents a shortfall of close to 3 million jobs, which mainly concerns young people ( 1. 2 million missing jobs ) and seniors ( 1. 3 million ). so let's first talk about young people, then seniors, and then about the measures for all working people. page 10 sur 15 for the past decade, the share of young people who are not in employment, education or training ( the so - called neets ) has remained stable overall. we must therefore first do our utmost to stop the slow erosion of basic skills observed in the various international surveys ( pisa, timss ). we must then ramp up the recent takeoff, since the 2018 avenir pro law and the 2020 1 jeune 1 solution plan, of apprenticeships, a fantastic tool for training and professional integration. the record number of close to 700, 000 new contracts signed in 2021 must be just a starting point, from which to rethink the financing of work - study programmes. page 11 sur 15 as regards seniors, france lags behind in terms of the employment rate and this gap widens as people approach retirement. this is another economic reason – in addition to ensuring the smooth financing of the old age insurance scheme – why it is necessary to reform our pension system. this reform must be fair, and companies will have to make more room for older workers. there remain three measures in order to raise the supply of labour for all workers : - beyond apprenticeships for young people, vocational training for all. the personal training account, resulting from the 2018 reform, has proved a great success ( demands for training have increased by 40 % compared to 2019 ) xv. however, it will have to be optimised, in order to control its costs and above all to better steer it towards skill needs, in particular in the digital and industrial professions of the future. i have noted that, on the key issue of skill enhancement, france is still among the european laggards. - by discouraging the repetitive and unjustified recourse to short - term contracts, including by some employees themselves

krone terms for imported consumer goods and services. second, exchange rate changes have an impact on competitiveness in norwegian business and industry and on market opportunities at home and abroad. this affects the level of activity in the economy and, in turn, price and cost developments. in the period between inflation report 3 / 06, presented in november 2006, and monetary policy report 1 / 07, presented in march this year, the krone appreciated more markedly than we had assumed. as a result, monetary policy report 1 / 07 was based on the assumption that the krone would be somewhat stronger throughout the projection period. the exchange rate assumption in inflation report 3 / 06 is shown by the broken blue line in the chart on the left, while the broken red line denotes the exchange rate assumption in monetary policy report 1 / 07. the isolated effect on the interest rate path of a stronger krone is illustrated in a box in monetary policy report 1 / 07. as shown in the chart on the right, the stronger krone pointed to a somewhat lower path for the interest rate. given the inflation target, we will be mindful of the effects of higher interest rates on the krone exchange rate when inflation is low. nonetheless, the interest rate path published in monetary policy report 1 / 07 was higher than in inflation report 3 / 06. the reason for this is that the prospect of stronger - than - expected growth in both norway and among our trading partners pointed to a higher interest rate path. on balance, this had a greater impact on the interest rate path than a stronger krone. over time, however, the nominal exchange rate is not the main force. the most important influence on competitiveness in norwegian business and industry and the purchasing power of the norwegian krone is changes in the real exchange rate. the real exchange rate can be measured in a number of ways, for example by consumer prices or labour costs in norway relative to our trading partners measured in a common currency. the real exchange rate has fluctuated widely over time and has deviated over longer periods considerably from the average level since 1970. the real exchange rate has nonetheless shown a tendency to revert to this level. over time, the exchange rate acts as a buffer in the global economy. when economic activity is high in one country, an appreciation of the country ’ s exchange rate will have a dampening effect. conversely, when there is a need to stimulate the economy, a weaker exchange rate will boost growth. over the past few years