This work is the result of a mostly qualitative study carried out in a Maison de l’Emploi from 2007 to 2012. Based on about one hundred semi structured interviews and continuous observation, we set out to understand how relations between the unemployed and employment intermediaries are constructed. We discussed (both formally and informally) with counselors and unemployed persons concerning their uses and expectations of the Service Public de l’Emploi. This research was conducted in a context of important institutional transformations (the creation of Maison de l’Emploi in 2005, the fusion of the Assedic and the ANPE networks in 2008 and the implementation of the RSA in 2009). These reforms notably aim to simplify the processed of coordination between job market operators as well as unemployment procedures throughout the search for employment. In this thesis, we took particular interest in the creation of the Maison de l’Emploi. In the first approach, we retrace the restructuring of the employment landscape through a socio historical perspective. We paid particular attention to the shared role of State and territorial collectivities in defining public policy regarding employment. In the second approach, we contemplated the place and role of the Maison de l’Emploi within the larger Service Public de l’Emploi. Using nine monographs, we sought to comprehend the specificity of their field of action regarding other employment agencies, as well as the connections between them. The third approach deals more directly with the administrative itineraries of the unemployed within the jungle of employment intermediaries. We retrace their procedure, as well as their relations to institutions through a dynamic analysis of their institutional trajectories. This methodological choice allowed us to identify five ideal type profiles of the unemployed; profiles constructed iteratively, over the course of accumulated interactions with employment agencies.
