The new rules for compensation for job seekers will come into force on January 1st. A few hours before the censorship verdict, the government moved on with current affairs and in particular made it known that it would validate (even in the event of censorship) the agreement reached by the social partners on November 14. An arbitration made hastily on Wednesday, according to Agence France Presse.
This legal approval by the executive is in fact obligatory, otherwise the reform would have remained on the shelf. Enough to create an unprecedented legal situation with a risk of “Shutdown” for the unemployment insurance system in the absence of this new convention determining the management rules for the next four years. A scenario which would have led to an automatic termination of the payment of unemployment benefits for all compensated job seekers from January 1st. Unless the government chooses to issue a decree by the end of the year to extend the current rules… Requested by us for several days, the Ministry of Labor refused to respond.
A relief for the signatories of this text, four unions and employers. With the exception of the CGT which refused, denouncing measures “particularly dangerous in a context of multiplication of social plans”. Failing to have obtained the end of the degression applying to the highest incomes, the CFE-CGC also opposed it. At the request of the government, the social partners have in fact tightened a certain number of compensation rules to participate in the budgetary effort. Savings: 867 million over four years.
Turn of the screw for seniors
It is therefore planned to shift the age limits for compensation for seniors. Today, unemployed people aged 53 or 54 benefit from a maximum of 22.5 months of compensation, and 27 months for those aged 55 and over. From January 1, this will be delayed by two years. You will need to be between 55 and 56 years old to qualify for 22.5 months of allowance, and 27 months for those aged 57 and over. As for recipients aged 53 and 54, they will only be entitled to 18 months of compensation (like the rest of the unemployed).
Another tightening of the screw which will affect all unemployed people: the amount of compensation will take into account 30 calendar days for all months of the year, including for unemployed people already receiving compensation. That is the equivalent of five or six fewer days of allowances per year.
However, a measure of the agreement which planned to reduce compensation for cross-border workers – and was expected to bring in 1.2 billion savings over four years – was ultimately abandoned for legal reasons, according to parliamentary sources.