Full employment cannot wait, warned Emmanuel Macron during his speech on July 14. At the top of the pile of files that Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne will ask to be dealt with urgently: work-related projects, with in mind unemployment compensation. The executive says he wants to move quickly to respond to labor shortages in several sectors shunned by job seekers.
How ? By modulating unemployment rights according to the economic situation. Understand: tighten the rules in times of improvement (growth picking up once more, abundant job offers, etc.), ie reduce the duration of compensation, the amounts, and tighten them in the event of a downturn. An automatic mechanism inspired by the United States and Canadathat three economists from the Economic Analysis Council (an organization under the supervision of Matignon) have explored in a report submitted a year ago.
When ? The text of the law for this reform of the system – the third since 2017 – supposed to implement this principle in France will have to be finalized and discussed in Parliament in October. Cheered up by the simmering social discontent and already in the starting blocks since the previous unemployment insurance reform, the unions have every intention of getting in the way. On September 5, an appointment is made to stop the positions. The protest dynamic is also launched: the CGT and Solidaires have already announced a strike on September 29 on pensions, another reform in sight…
Vote on the principle without going into details
To advance without pointing from the outset is the technique of the government. With a good dose of all-out discussions. Added to this, a bill that will set out the principles but not the terms. It will be lightened, the government has already indicated, around fifteen articles (not exclusively on unemployment). Clearly, the objective is to succeed in having the principle of this modulation voted on without going into the details of its application.
“The agreement which sets the rules for unemployment insurance expires at the end of October. The bill must imperatively extend them to secure compensation, ”assures a source from the executive. As for the criteria establishing this modulation and under what conditions, “discussions will begin in the fall with the social partners and will be specified by decree”, continues this source. Knowing that the devil is always hiding in the details…
