Barthelemy Philippe
modified to
07:10, November 22, 2022
Unemployment insurance reform has its detractors. With its new rules which adapt according to the economic situation and the employment situation in France, it is not unanimous. Even more when we look at the long list of exceptions to the rule. Overseas, dockers, entertainment workers, for example, are not concerned.
Has the government decided to hit the unemployed? The unemployment insurance reform presented Monday by the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt is denounced by all the unions, with the exception of the representatives of employers. From the CGT to the CFE-CGC via FO, all the social partners consider the new rules unfair and violent for the unemployed. The big change brought about by this reform is the adaptation of unemployment insurance to the situation. It plans to modulate downwards (-25%) the duration of unemployment benefits when the economic situation is good, as is currently the case with our 7.3% unemployment rate, and to return to current conditions if the situation deteriorates, ie if unemployment exceeds 9% or rises sharply by +0.8% in one quarter.
“A violent reform”
Measures strongly criticized, even if the government has tried to take care of the acceptability of its text as much as possible by providing for numerous exceptions. This is the case of overseas France for example. It is spared by the new rules in the name of the “too special” economic context, according to Olivier Dussopt. Some trades do not switch to modulation either. Among them, the dockers, the fishermen or even the intermittents du spectacle. In addition, the rules remain the same for beneficiaries of a professional security contract, and expatriates.
But in any case, the government will not touch the amount of unemployment insurance, nor the floor of six months for the minimum duration of compensation. According to Denis Gravouil, trade unionist at the CGT, these exceptions aim to avoid a social explosion: “We can see that the government has tried to compensate to avoid social anger. But it remains a violent reform, especially for young people, because apprentices are not excluded from the rules, but also for seniors. On behalf of the CGT, I asked Olivier Dussopt to withdraw the text but he refused.
To mitigate the shock, the government will also extend the compensation of the unemployed who are reaching the end of their rights when the economic situation deteriorates.