“The message I want to send them is “we need you, we need your experience.” » The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, said on Thursday, November 23, that he was in favor of lowering the duration of unemployment compensation for those over 55 to align it with those of other unemployed people; one of the measures to be taken, according to him, to achieve full employment, that is to say an unemployment rate of around 5%.
“If we don’t shake things up, there won’t be a 5% unemployment rate” at the end of the five-year term (compared to 7.4% today), said the Minister of the Economy on Franceinfo. “Something is wrong with the French social model” which prevents this from being achieved, according to him.
“One of the ways is through the employment of seniors”affirmed the minister, who recalled that compensation for those over 55 is “twenty-seven months”against “eighteen months” for younger job seekers, a way according to him “to retire early those over 55”. “Would they be worth less, those over 55? (…) I see no reason why there should be a longer compensation period, (…) This is total hypocrisy.”he assured.
He recalled that the employment rate of seniors was lower “ten points” in France to the general employment rate (68%). The minister thus intends “raise the debate” a reduction in the duration of compensation for seniors “with the total determination to achieve this 5% unemployment rate that we have not reached for half a century in France”.
Criticism of the unemployment insurance agreement
He also judged “perfectible” the agreement on unemployment insurance signed last week by representatives of employee and employer union organizations, particularly on this issue of seniors.
He also criticized the financing measures included in the agreement, with “certain expenses”such as reductions in contributions, compensated by “unlikely savings”. The agreement notably proposes “to save money on business creation”noted Mr. Le Maire, judging “the idea is a bit baroque because we need to create businesses, and the economy estimated at nearly 900 million euros seems very improbable to me”.
“On the financial aspect, we can legitimately express doubts, I had the opportunity to explain this with the president of Medef [Mouvement des entreprises de France] »concluded the minister.