CAPUNI is a national survey carried out by the GIS Marsouin which aims to measure what digital technology brings (or does not bring) to individuals in terms of power to act.
It is particularly interested in the uses of digital technology within isolated rural areas (ZRI) and in priority city districts (QPV).
It is a telephone survey conducted in March 2019 among 7500 people over 18 years old (a national sample and four oversamples).
From the monitoring of children's schooling, which is becoming commonplace, to administrative procedures, including job searches, there is a whole range of activities that are partly linked to citizen services and that are being dematerialized.
The CAPUNI survey seeks to identify, measure, and understand the extent to which French citizens appropriate digital technology to perform certain activities. This note focuses on the link between individuals and the digitization of the State's digital services. In this synthesis, the appropriation of digital technology by individuals is defined by two key questions: the use of digital technology in the performance of administrative tasks and the individual's feelings about the contribution of digital technology to these processes.
Digital" monitoring of children's schooling is becoming commonplace
First of all, when it comes to children's schooling, we can see that digital technology is becoming commonplace. Thus, a third of French Internet users with at least one child in school favor digital technology to monitor their child's schooling, while 29% of them monitor their children's schooling both with and without digital technology. As for the French Internet users, parents of children in school and declaring that they avoid digital technology (7%) or "never" follow their children's schooling via digital technology (31%), they generally have children in kindergarten or primary school. It turns out that in kindergarten and primary school, Pronote-type platforms are not used as they can be in secondary schools, where they are widely used. There is no territorial disparity in the monitoring of children's schooling.Job search: digital is becoming a must
Going digital is becoming more and more complicated for certain tasks that almost systematically involve online services or email exchanges. Looking for a job is one of those activities that are close to total dematerialization.77% of Internet users (employed and unemployed) who have looked for a job in the last 12 months have done so via the Internet. Moreover, concerning precisely the unemployed individuals, 90% of them carry out their research by Internet.
Among Internet users involved in job searches over the past 12 months, 59% favor digital methods and 18% mix their job search with both digital and non-digital methods. Conversely, 4% of French Internet users involved in job searches say they avoid digital technology and 19% never use it for this task. Age remains a discriminating factor in whether or not they favor digital technology, with the youngest age groups more likely to look for a job online.
In ZRI, job seekers less convinced by the benefits of digital technology
In 2019, 81% of job seekers in France believe that digital makes the process easier, while only 73% in ZRI.Living in a ZRI has a significant impact on the non-use of digital technology when looking for a job. For the same socio-professional categories, only 47% of job seekers living in ZRIs use digital technology during their job search, compared to 59% of French people as a whole (12 points more than in ZRIs).
This finding is not based on a perceived greater difficulty in completing the task via the Internet in ZRI than in the rest of the country: whether in ZRI specifically or nationally, about 1 in 10 have difficulty with the digital job search.
It seems that residents in ZRI are less convinced of the contribution of digital technology to the job search process. In fact, 16% of ZRI residents who had looked for a job in the past 12 months said that digital technology makes no difference, compared to 10% nationally.
Finally, this survey shows that 27% of job seekers in ZRI do not find that digital technology really makes it easier to find a job, compared to 9% nationally.
Job search and disability
Still on the subject of job search procedures, it should be noted that there is a "ZRI effect" for people with disabilities. Indeed, within ZRIs, all disabilities combined, disabled Internet users are more likely to use digital technology to look for a job than other ZRI residents (73% versus 66% - moderate effect). Conversely, nationwide, people with disabilities are less likely to integrate digital to look for a job than others (70% vs. 77%).To carry out administrative procedures, whether it is to declare and track taxes, apply for a benefit and track files from the CAF or Social Security, digital technology is widespread and even (almost) mandatory. Regarding taxes, for example, it should be remembered that since 2019, if the main residence of French taxpayers is equipped with internet access, the tax return must be made by Internet. However, Bercy specifies: "If you feel that you are not able to do so, you can continue to use a paper declaration".
Little progress since 2016
In this context, 80% of individuals involved in administrative procedures believe that the Internet "makes it easier". On the other side of the spectrum, 10 to 12% of them find it difficult to complete their procedures online. This proportion has not changed significantly since 2016, when 13% of French people felt it was "more difficult" to complete administrative procedures with digital technology.Once again, the generational divide is one of the most notable explanatory factors: the older age groups generally express more difficulties. Workers (for taxes, CAF and Social Security), employees (for taxes) and farmers (for Social Security) are also more concerned by the difficulties caused by digital technology in carrying out certain administrative procedures.
A question of flow?
In addition, another explanatory factor is highlighted: the perception of the quality of the speed of users at home. Indeed, 22% of the individuals dissatisfied with the quality of their home connection for this type of activity ("poor connection" modality) answered that it was "difficult with digital technology" to declare their taxes (10 points difference from the average). A priori, it is not a question of not mastering a particular dedicated platform.ZRI and QPV: opposing effects
As for the inhabitants of the QPV, they are more likely to believe that administrative procedures are more difficult to carry out via the Internet. This is even more pronounced in households with more than two people in the QPV, and more specifically in the case of tax and social security procedures. On the other hand, in the ZRI, Internet users consider that digital technology makes it easier to carry out tax and Social Security procedures. This is less the case in more urbanized areas. Although significant, these effects remain moderate.To conclude, the survey reveals that digital practices are widespread and almost compulsory. However, if we refine the observation, notable differences appear (sometimes in a contradictory way) linked to the territory of residence of individuals but also to their perceptions of the flow.
