This is one of the hot issues on the government’s table: the bill on unemployment insurance was presented this Wednesday, September 7 in the Council of Ministers. A controversial text, which should allow “to improve the functioning of the labor market” according to the executive.
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The bill is presented as a ” first stage “ to deal with the recruitment difficulties reported by companies. The executive wants to achieve full employment by 2027, i.e. an unemployment rate of around 5% against 7.3% currently. We take stock of what could change regarding access to unemployment compensation.
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• How is compensation currently going?
Not all job seekers are compensated, far from it. According to data from Unédic, of the 6.5 million people registered with Pôle emploi in December 2021, only 2.6 million (40%) of them receive compensation. The body that manages the unemployment insurance scheme predicts that they will be 2.4 million at the end of 2022.
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The average net amount of compensation is 960 euros (1,070 euros for recipients who do not work and 720 euros for those who work and supplement their income). Recipients consume on average 68% of their entitlements.
Since December 1, you must have worked six months in the last 24 months to receive unemployment benefit (compared to four months previously). The reference calculation of the daily wage has also been modified: it now takes into account both the days worked and the days not worked during the 24 months preceding unemployment, penalizing jobseekers alternating unemployment and activity, “the permits”.
• Why a new reform?
The bill aims to extend the current rules of unemployment insurance, which expire on November 1, until the end of 2023. It also paves the way for a new reform, to modulate the conditions of access to compensation depending on the economic situation.
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“When things are going well, we tighten the rules and when things are going badly, we relax them”summarized the Minister of Labour, Full Employment and Integration Olivier Dussopt in an interview with “Parisien” at the end of July. “Our compensation rules must take into account the situation of the labor market, as does, for example, Canada”he argued.
Regarding the evaluation of the transition to “a good situation” or a “degraded situation”the Minister deemed that he “must be objective”. It will pass “either by criteria, such as a number of consecutive quarters with an improvement in employment, or by a committee that gives us an opinion”the modalities then not being “not stopped”.
• What could change?
According to Olivier Dussopt, guest on the set of Franceinfo this Wednesday, it is possible to act “on the maximum duration of compensation” which is now 24 months and “on the conditions to be eligible for compensation”.
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What about the question of the level of compensation? “It will not be our priority”replied the minister. “We are in a period where we advocate measures to defend purchasing power. But I don’t want to close all the doors. »
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Olivier Dussopt announced the launch of a consultation with employers’ organizations and trade unions. “We want the new rules to be the most incentive possible”he hammered.
• What are the unions saying?
The idea of varying the conditions of compensation for the unemployed according to the situation is categorically rejected by the unions. Meeting Monday, September 5 at the headquarters of CFDT, they agreed on their opposition and should publish next week a common text to this effect.
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He will wear “on the current problem of employment and recruitment difficulties which will not find an effective response with a reform which further reduces the rights of the unemployed”said Marylise Léon, of the CFDT, to AFP.
“We want to negotiate a new unemployment insurance agreement, but on condition that we are left in control”added Michel Beaugas, of Force Ouvrière. “The reality is that the executive gives guarantees to the Medef, which therefore has no interest in negotiating with the unions”for his part lamented François Hommeril, of the CFE-CGC.
In fact, the president of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, has already judged that“opening negotiations will be useless since it will not succeed for lack of a diagnosis shared with the unions”.
