Tribune. We, associations and unions of employees, reacted vigorously against the reform of unemployment insurance, when it was announced in June 2019 by the government. Due to the health crisis, certain points of this reform had been conveniently put on hold and the most optimistic of us could believe them abandoned. However, the government has just announced its implementation in 1er July 2021. This entry into force, even though the health crisis is far from over and its social consequences, already heavy, will only increase, is at the same time unjust, absurd and indecent.
Unfair, because it will strike people who are already vulnerable, who are among those who have been most affected by the health and social crisis. According to Unédic figures, from 1er July 2021, 1.15 million people will see their rights drop drastically, on average by 17%, and up to 40% for the 400,000 most vulnerable. The most affected will be precisely those who have short or spaced contracts.
At a date not yet specified, other measures should tighten access to rights, in particular by raising the threshold for access to compensation, by requiring a period of six months worked, against four today. Here again, the most affected will be precarious workers, in particular young people under the age of 26.
Absurd, especially because it comes at the worst time. The analyzes of the scientific council of the National Council for the fight against exclusion are eloquent: they show, on the one hand, that the poorest people – in particular the unemployed – have been the hardest hit by the social consequences of the health crisis; on the other hand, that multiple layers of society have tilted or will fall into poverty, the crisis acting as a “social descender”; and finally, that the strength of our social protection system has averted an even worse catastrophe.
And it is at this moment, while we are still at the heart of the third wave of the epidemic, that the government will, by its very action, accentuate the effects of the crisis and plunge into poverty those who would have could stay the head above water if we had maintained the system of unemployment insurance.
Stigma process
Indecent, finally. Even before the health crisis, the purchasing power of the poorest households had already declined, mainly due to the freezing of housing allowances, family benefits and RSA; social inequalities had widened significantly. The crisis has accentuated this phenomenon, the better-off households being able to save, while the poorest 10% have most often had to go into debt.
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