PTo justify the reform of unemployment insurance defended by the Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, the government spokesperson affirmed: “ Eighteen months to find a job is enough. » This is both a victory for the majority and Les Républicains, who had conditioned their support on the modulation of the duration of compensation according to the level of unemployment, and a clever diversion, drawing attention on the search for full employment, to make people forget the difficulties in combating inflation.
The context seems favorable to this reform. Entrepreneurs are facing an unprecedented recruitment crisis, in the private sector (hotels, construction, catering, etc.) as well as in the public sector (education, health, etc.), and this regardless of the apparent hardship of the job (career jobs). banking and new technologies affected). The phenomenon had started before the Covid, and has amplified since. The job turnover rate is accelerating (INSEE estimates this attrition rate at 15%, the minister mentions 360,000 unfilled positions), while the unemployment rate has returned to a structurally low level (7.5 %).
It was then tempting to explain unemployment and job vacancies by the generosity of the compensation system. The duration of compensation will therefore drop by 25% as long as the unemployment rate remains below 9%, going from 24 to 18 months for those under 53, from 36 to 27 months for those over 55. But is our system so generous compared to our European neighbours?
The generalization of the degressivity of allowances
According to Unédic (January 2022), the duration of compensation runs up to 24 months in Germany, 48 months in Denmark, in Spain. It is unlimited in Belgium, but strongly degressive and fixed after two years. Only Great Britain sets the threshold at 182 days. The degressivity of allowances has become widespread… including in France (from 7e month).
If France stands out, it is above all by the amounts of compensation: a lower replacement rate than elsewhere (57% of the daily reference wage compared to 90% in Denmark, 60% at least in Germany, 70% in Spain) and a much higher allowance ceiling (7,816 euros in France, 3,019 euros in Germany, 2,600 euros in Denmark). The system is therefore less redistributive and benefits the most qualified and best paid employees, while they find a job more quickly.
The urgency mentioned by the government raises questions, given the recurrence of the devices: the last decree dated from March 2021. Let us recall that, according to the direction of the animation of research, studies and statistics (Dares, October 2022), at the at least 25% of eligible employees do not use unemployment insurance; and that the unemployment insurance accounts returned to the green in 2022 (surplus of 1.5 billion euros, high debt after the Covid, but which is beginning to decline, around 60 billion euros at the end of 2023) .
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