Set to music in a decree published on Wednesday March 31 at Official newspaper, the reform of unemployment insurance inspires strong reservations to many economists, including among those who supported Emmanuel Macron during the presidential campaign of 2017. Critics hold both to the content of certain provisions but also to the moment chosen to make such changes.
The government’s plan “Aimed to deal with a real but localized problem: the abuse of short contracts”, recalls Jean Pisani-Ferry, professor at Sciences-Po. “Applying it today means risking penalizing precarious people on the fringes of the labor market who have already been hit hard by the Covid shock”, he warns. The former “director of the program and ideas” of Mr. Macron, during the race at the Elysee Palace four years ago, alludes to a major innovation: the new method of calculating the daily reference wage (SJR), which is used to determine the amount of the allowance.
The rules governing this mechanism were in the sights of the executive because they could prove to be more advantageous for those who were employed on a fractional basis, on short contracts, compared to those who worked continuously – with the consequence of going back and forth. incessant returns between odd jobs and compensated unemployment. It is therefore to break this dynamic called the “Permittence” (be permanently in intermittent positions) that the RLS has been modified.
” This is not the moment “
The problem is that the provisions that will now be in place are likely to result in lower monthly unemployment benefit amounts than in the previous system, for some of the people whose activity will end after the 1er July. This impact, the unions denounce it but it is assumed by the power in place, on the grounds that it would help to encourage employees to accept contracts of a longer duration. But Jean Pisani-Ferry finds this approach open to criticism because “The context is not at all the same” : “We are no longer faced with a tight labor market where it was legitimate to increase incentives to return to work. “
Wider, “Initiating a reform designed before the crisis, even if it has been amended, is to give the feeling that the government is not taking the measure of all that the pandemic has upset”, judge Jean Pisani-Ferry. He thinks in particular of “The extent of the reallocations of employment, in trades and sectors, which may have to occur”. In other words, manpower needs are set to change profoundly, with professional branches where bosses will want to hire with all their might while others will be on the opposite trend: we might as well wait until these changes have taken place. place, before moving the diet sliders.
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