In 1970, an industrial worker had to work for 243 minutes in order to be able to buy a kilogram of pork chops, a kilogram of beef, a kilogram of dark wheat and rye bread, ten eggs, 250 grams of butter, a kilogram of potatoes and a litre of milk; in 2008 he had to work only 82 minutes.

It is the result of urban growth in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s that followed in the wake of industrial development in the Seine valley and large-scale building of low-cost worker housing.

It would be particularly unfair for workers in industry to face an added risk – a social risk, that of losing their job – in addition to risks at work.

Supplementing these operations to support firms and infrastructure projects by reinforcing local schemes in urban areas and the city of Mulhouse, in the potash mining area in the north-west of the region and in rural areas. These activities will be translated into separate projects. The "City of Mulhouse" project involves the working-class districts and takes into account the experience gained previously through the Community Initiative URBAN. Developing and rehabilitating the potash mining sites will involve diversifying the tourist industry in the region by conservation of the historical, rural and industrial heritage.

Cultural projects in the declining industrial areas mostly fall into three categories, as an aspect of measures to promote employment and training, to restore the natural environment (disused industrial sites) or to the architectural heritage (factories, workers' housing).

The project is intended for 15 skilled workers qualified in industrial engineering, who will form the nucleus of a reservoir of instructors on which the interested firms can draw for later training operations. Reintegration of social dropouts (France) This operation is aimed at the population of two particularly disadvantaged areas of Marseilles.