The main tasks were helping the unemployed back into work, supporting companies in their recruitment requirement, fighting against discrimination.

Starting on 1 January 2006, ANPE offered all job seekers monthly monitoring with a personal adviser referral until their return to employment.

To facilitate recruitment, the ANPE had a partnership with 568,000 companies to promote the adequacy between supply and demand, including developing the skills of job seekers by training.

The central administration gave the direction, planning implementation and assessing results.

In 2008, a new public agency was created, resulting from the merging of the ANPE with the Unédic administration.