Attal brings his government together on work, unemployment insurance in the sights

The Prime Minister will then be questioned by TF1 on the 20:00 p.m. news.

“We will continue on this path of rigor and responsibility always with a common thread (...) that of work” because “the more French people we have working, the more possibilities we will have to balance our finances”, said assured the Prime Minister on Tuesday, citing the reform of unemployment insurance.

According to Matignon, the government seminar will focus on encouraging people to return to work, which includes the contested reforms of the RSA (active solidarity income, Editor's note) and unemployment insurance. Continuing his idea of ​​a "de-microcardialization" of France, Gabriel Attal also hears about low wages and new forms of work, such as the four-day week, still at the experimental stage.

However, the government is looking for savings after the public deficit skidded to 5,5% of GDP in 2023, according to INSEE. Or 15,8 billion euros more than the government's forecasts, which excludes increasing taxes.

“Populist stigmatization”

Ten billion euros in cuts have already been made in mid-February on the 2024 budget, but additional savings will be found this year, warned the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, refusing for the moment to give a estimate. “At least 20 billion” euros in savings are already planned for 2025.

Among the avenues considered by the executive is a new reform of unemployment insurance that the unions are contesting, after the controversial ones of 2019 and 2023.

Gabriel Attal intends to “reopen” this project, defending “a social model which encourages more activity”.

This includes reducing the duration of compensation for the unemployed.

A possibility that provokes indignation on the left. For the boss of PS deputies Boris Vallaud, the government's "ideologues" "stop thinking". On France 2, he recalled that studies published by the Ministry of Labor show that previous reforms were "a catastrophe on a social level" and affected "young people, women, the least qualified...".

“This government, when it seeks to make savings, always looks in the same direction: towards the most precarious,” echoed on TF1 the head of the list of Ecologists for Europeans, Marie Toussaint.

"It's a measure that has proven itself elsewhere" but on condition that "we recreate the conditions for prosperity in the country", for his part estimated on France Inter the LR mayor of Cannes David Lisnard, possible candidate for the 2027 presidential election.

The leaders of the five major trade union centers called on March 18 to abandon a new reform and to “stop the populist stigmatization of the unemployed”.

But someone close to the Prime Minister believes that they will not be able to “mobilize massively on this”.

“Signal” to the markets

They also oppose Bruno Le Maire's desire for the State to take over unemployment insurance, currently managed by the social partners, via Unédic, a joint organization. Unions and employers renegotiate the rules every two to three years to take into account changes in the labor market.

A new meeting on "the life at work pact", between unions and employers was also held on Tuesday, dedicated to the employment of seniors, to allow employees to stay in their jobs longer, while the legal age retirement date has been postponed to age 64.

This meeting was to be the last but given the poor progress, an additional session was added to the program on April 8. If the social partners do not reach an agreement, the State will take control.

According to a majority official, the government is looking for "financial margins" but in terms of work "there are few" while several structural reforms have already been undertaken, from pensions to RSA. The reduction in the duration of compensation would take at least a year to produce its effects on public accounts, "between the time of negotiation and that of implementation", according to him.

But "the signal is interesting for financial institutions and the markets", at a time when France's rating could be downgraded by the major agencies in the coming weeks.

Status report on unemployment insurance compensation

The government has several times expressed its desire to “reopen the construction site” of unemployment insurance and to further tighten the rules, after two controversial reforms in 2019 and 2023. A government seminar on work is being held today. What is the state of affairs, what are the avenues, what do the unions say?

How is compensation currently going?

Employees are insured against unemployment risk. But not all job seekers are compensated, far from it - for some because they have not worked long enough.

In the third quarter of 2023, out of 6,1 million job seekers registered with France Travail (all categories combined), only 2,6 million were compensated (42,6%), according to Unédic data.

The average amount of the net monthly allowance is 1.033 euros.

Following the 2019 reform, the calculation of the daily reference wage (SJR), the basis of unemployment benefit, has been modified since October 1, 2021.

This salary takes into account both days worked and days not worked during the 24 months preceding unemployment (with a floor guaranteeing a minimum allowance). This penalizes job seekers alternating between unemployment and activity. Compensation was previously calculated by dividing income by only the days worked during the reference period.

To qualify for rights, you must also, since December 1, 2021, have worked six months over the last 24 months (36 months for those over 53). Previously, you had to have worked four months.

The minimum duration of compensation is six months (182 days). The maximum duration varies depending on age: it is currently 18 months for those under 53, 22,5 months for those aged 53-54 and 27 months for those aged 55 or over. The duration of compensation has been reduced by 25% since February 1, 2023.

A new unemployment insurance agreement, negotiated in the fall by the social partners, must be validated by the government after the signing of an amendment on compensation for seniors, expected in April.

What is the government planning?

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced Wednesday evening on TF1 that he wanted to ask the social partners to open new negotiations on unemployment insurance this year and plans to reduce the duration of compensation by "several months" while keeping a minimum of 12 months, compared to 18 months today for those under 53.

He also plans to increase the duration of affiliation, i.e. the time one must have worked to be entitled to compensation, as well as “the level of unemployment compensation”.

“I want us to have the parameters of this reform in the summer so that it can come into force by the fall, as I committed to,” he added.

“My objective is not to attack a particular individual or the unemployed, it is to move a system to further encourage people to return to work,” said the Prime Minister.

On the other hand, he remained open on the subject of the duration of compensation for seniors, a subject which should be the subject of an employer and union agreement on April 10. “In the avenues that are put forward, we hear about a two-year increase in the age limit for the senior sector, which would be consistent with the latest pension reform,” he underlined.

What do the unions say about it?

“The unemployment insurance system cannot be a variable in the State's budgetary adjustment!”, reacted the general secretary of the CFDT Marylise Léon, adding that her union “will continue to push demands so that efforts are equitably distributed” between employees and employers.

“It is unacceptable in method and in substance, the only thing announced by Gabriel Attal this evening is once again hitting the precarious or the unemployed,” Denis Gravouil, negotiator for the CGT in negotiations on unemployment insurance.

Michel Beaugas (FO) denounced "a beautiful fable" from the Prime Minister "according to which it is unemployment insurance which prevents employers from hiring".

The president of the managers' union François Hommeril attacked the "absolute cynicism of this speech which ignores the situation of an unemployed person faced with the difficulty of finding a job".

Finally, the leader of the CFTC, Cyril Chabanier, said he was “very worried”. “Making it more difficult to access unemployment or lowering compensation is something that doesn’t work, it has never worked.”