Unemployment benefits: what could change

How is compensation currently going?

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

According to data from Unédic, there were 6,5 million people registered with Pôle emploi in December 2021, but only 2,6 million (40%) of them were compensated. The body that manages the unemployment insurance scheme predicts that they will be 2,4 million at the end of 2022.

The average net amount of compensation is 960 euros for all those receiving compensation (1.070 euros for recipients who do not work and 720 euros for those who work and thus supplement their income). Recipients consume on average 68% of their entitlements.

With the latest reform, since October 1, 2021, the calculation of the daily reference wage (SJR), the basis of unemployment benefit, has been modified. It takes into account both the days worked and the days not worked during the 24 months preceding unemployment (with a floor guaranteeing a minimum benefit). This penalizes job seekers alternating unemployment and activity, "permittents". The compensation was previously calculated by dividing the income by the days worked during the reference period.

To open rights, it is also necessary, since December 1, to have worked six months (i.e. 130 days worked or 910 hours) during the last 24 months (36 months for those over 53). Previously, you had to have worked for 4 months.

For unemployed people under 57 who have received a salary of more than 4.500 euros gross, a reduction of -30% in benefits applies from the 7th month.

What could change?

The executive wishes to modulate the conditions of unemployment insurance according to the situation of the labor market, like what is done for example in Canada – but without copying this model at the regional level. "When things are going well, we tighten the rules and, when things are going badly, we relax them", summed up the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt.

Three parameters can thus potentially change: amount of compensation, eligibility criteria, duration of compensation.

Olivier Dussopt dismisses the reduction in the amount of the monthly allowance, because "there would be a form of contradiction" while "we are in a period of defense of purchasing power".

“We can act on the maximum duration of compensation, which today is 24 months, we can act on the conditions to be eligible. Today, you must have worked 6 months out of the last 24 (..). Will it be 7 or 8 months or will it be 6 months out of 18 instead of 24?”, he wondered on franceinfo on Wednesday.

For Marc Ferracci, Renaissance deputy and one of the instigators of the previous reform, "eligibility produces the fastest results on employment". "If we only play over time, the effects will be delayed, but we need to have quick results," he explains to AFP.

The Medef is in favor of changing the compensation rules according to the economic situation, but the unions are all against the very principle of modulation.

On the criteria for modulating, "it must be simple, transparent, avoid crossing several indicators", argues Marc Ferracci, for whom the indicator of choice could be the ILO unemployment rate published by INSEE.

Regarding other economic criteria such as growth, we must keep "caution in mind", declared Olivier Dussopt on BFM Business, because "growth can be present without necessarily manifesting itself by job creation" and Conversely.

As for a modulation by region, "it's an additional complexity", he judged, while not closing the door to the debate on the question.