Gabriel Attal confirms a tightening of the foundations | EUROtoday

It's from 1^er December 2024 that unemployment insurance coverage compensation guidelines can be tightened, introduced the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, in an interview with La Tribune on Sunday, Saturday May 25. The goal, in line with him, is to“move towards full employment” and of “value work even more”.

The period of compensation can be decreased from eighteen to fifteen months “under current conditions”, that’s to say if the unemployment charge stays beneath 9%, for unemployed folks beneath 57 years previous. Currently staff aged 53 and 54 may be compensated for as much as 22.5 months, and people aged 55 and over for as much as 27 months. The first stage will disappear and the advantage of longer compensation can be reserved for unemployed folks aged 57 and over.

In addition, it will likely be essential to have labored eight months during the last twenty months to be compensated, in comparison with six months during the last twenty-four months at the moment, specified the top of presidency. These parts verify the concepts given this week to the social companions by the Minister of Labor, Catherine Vautrin.

With regard to month-to-month funds, as a substitute of being calculated in line with the variety of days within the month (between 28 and 31), the allowance paid ought to sooner or later be the identical each month for an unemployed one who doesn’t haven’t labored over the interval, on a 30-day foundation. This will trigger unemployed individuals who haven’t labored for a complete 12 months to lose 5 or 6 days of compensation.

Gabriel Attal specified that the federal government would situation a decree on 1^er July in order that the reform “may come into force on 1^er December “. Changing the compensation rules requires updating the information systems of France Travail (formerly Pôle Emploi) which cannot be done overnight.

An examination of the possible extension of the bonus-malus system on short contracts

The Prime Minister said he wanted “the proposal from the social partners to create a senior permanent contract be studied” and can ask M^me Vautrin “to launch negotiations after the summer, for a law text by the end of the year”.

In order to encourage unemployed seniors to return to work, the government is creating a “senior employment bonus” to support the return to employment. Thanks to this measure “an unemployed senior who returns to a job that is less well paid than their previous job will be able to combine their new salary with their unemployment benefit” And “will thus regain his initial remuneration, for one year”, explained Gabriel Attal. This supplement paid by unemployment insurance will make it possible to compensate for the shortfall in wages up to 3,000 euros.

The bonus-malus system on short contracts will be the subject of an examination on “the opportunity to extend it”. Emmanuel Macron's campaign promise in 2017, the bonus-malus is a system hotly contested by employers which aims to fight against the abuse of short contracts. It currently concerns companies with 11 employees and more than seven sectors that consume a lot of short contracts (such as accommodation and catering or transport and warehousing).

This involves adjusting the employer unemployment insurance contribution − 4.05% of the payroll − upwards (malus) or downwards (bonus), depending on “separation rate” companies, compared to the median rate in their sector.

Gabriel Attal thus announced that he was charging Catherine Vautrin “to carry out consultation to identify the sectors which will be intended to enter this system and at what pace”.

Received by the Minister of Labor this week, the president of Medef, Patrick Martin, displayed his “support for reform” while saying he is opposed “to a generalization or even a simple extension of the bonus-malus”.

Reduction in the duration of compensation in the event of a drop in the unemployment rate

Under the principle of “countercyclicality”, which has applied since February 2023, the duration of unemployment benefits is reduced by 25% when the unemployment rate remains below 9%. This rate is currently 7.5%. This modulation will be reinforced if the unemployment rate falls below 6.5%, which would make it possible to generate around 3 billion euros in additional savings. The duration of compensation for unemployed people under 57 would then be reduced by 40%, to a maximum of twelve months.

“To prepare for the economic rebound of 2025 that the forecasters predict, I hope that the rules will be even more encouraging when growth picks up again and the unemployment rate decreases”, said Gabriel Attal again. For the Prime Minister, “it is not a reform of the economy, but of prosperity and activity”.

“The gain will be measured by a greater number of French people who will work. And therefore more funding for our system”he assured.

A reform deemed “criminal” by the CGT

According to the Ministry of Labor, the government expects 3.6 billion euros in savings from the reform and plans an increase “by 90,000 the number of people in employment”.

Tightening the affiliation condition alone would generate 2.8 billion in savings, according to the CGT. “It’s really an anti-youth measure”reacted Denis Gravouil, the negotiator on unemployment insurance at the Montreuil power plant, for whom the absence of a decision to extend the bonus-malus shows that “the government is totally aligned with the interests of employers”.

Using the words used according to him by the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, before Catherine Vautrin, he judged that the reform was “criminal”citing studies on the health of the unemployed and those around them which show “the suicide rate of unemployed people at the end of their rights is twice as high as in the employed population”.