Job seekers eligible for the return to work allowance (ARE) will benefit from a boost next month. As of April 1, unemployment benefits will be increased to 1.9%, several unions announced on Friday. The decision was taken during a Unédic board meeting.
« This follows a collective initiative by trade unions which, faced with galloping inflation and the decline in the purchasing power of job seekers, requested and obtained this reassessment. “, welcomed Force Ouvrière in a press release.
Insufficient for the CGT
The union hailed a first “, because until then, only one revaluation took place per year on July 1st. The CGT however deplored that the employers did not ” not conceded more than a revaluation of 1.9% in total disconnection with the precariousness of jobless people but, also, with the increases in social minima and the Smic “. The union abstained, without preventing the adoption of this revaluation for all that.
This announcement comes as on Wednesday March 22, the government announced a 1.6% increase in social benefits (RSA, activity bonus, family allowances, etc.) from April 1.
A 1.6% increase for social benefits
This revaluation was calculated from the average of the monthly inflation rates for one year, i.e. +5.6% compared to April 2022. But the real increase in April 2023 was reduced to +1.6%, because the government took into account the exceptional increase of 4% which had been granted in a way “ anticipated in July 2022, the ministry told AFP.
The minister, Jean-Christophe Combe, announced this decision on Tuesday to the solidarity associations during the first meeting of a cell dedicated to ” inflation monitoring “said his cabinet. This cell ” will meet once more soon to anticipate the measures and systems necessary to protect the most vulnerable in the face of rising prices » et « maintain strong vigilance on the risks of falling into poverty “, we had assured from the same source.
The representatives of the associations present, however, informed the Minister of their incomprehension, faced with a revaluation deemed largely insufficient. Consumer prices have indeed increased by an average of 6.2% over one year, but at least by 14 to 15% on food and basic necessities.
(With AFP)
