If they agree to open negotiations, employers and unions will have to try to reach a conclusion “by November 15″, according to the document, for new rules coming into force at the start of 2024. The government includes this negotiation in its objective ” full employment by 2027″, i.e. an unemployment rate of around 5%.
He wants to rely on the last two reforms of 2019 and 2022 which have enabled Unédic, the joint body in charge of unemployment insurance, to generate, according to him, “increasing surpluses for the next three years. and reduce the unemployment rate to 7.1%.
A modulation criticized by employers
It is therefore out of the question, to the great displeasure of the unions, to return to the method of calculating unemployment compensation, which has been less favorable since 2019 to job seekers alternating between unemployment and short contracts. There is also no question of going back on the modulation of the rules of compensation according to the economic situation: since February 1, the duration of compensation has thus been reduced by 25% and will only be extended in the event of strong economic deterioration. .
As for the minimum duration of employment to access compensation, increased from 4 to 6 months, it must remain “sufficient incentive for employment” according to the text. Criticized by employers, the “bonus malus”, this upward or downward modulation of the unemployment insurance contribution rate for companies in certain sectors (transport for example) which abuse precarious contracts, will be maintained.
After the pension reform, the social partners are invited “to draw the consequences of the extension of the duration of activity on the rules of compensation for seniors”. But this point could also be addressed during the negotiations on the employment of seniors scheduled for the start of the school year. The maximum duration of compensation is longer for those over 55, which encourages companies, according to the government, to lay off these seniors instead of keeping them until retirement.
Doubts about negotiation
On the financial side, the document asks Unédic to contribute more to the financing of France Travail, the organization which will replace Pôle emploi and which will need resources for the reinforced support of the beneficiaries of the RSA promised by the government.
Unédic finances Pôle emploi via a contribution of 11% of its revenue – 44 billion euros in 2022. The executive wants this rate to be “between 12 and 13%” in 2026. from Unédic will be cut each year (by 2 billion from 2023) to finance employment policy, including apprenticeship, which is booming but which is expensive for public finances.
These punctures should not prevent Unédic from continuing to reduce its debt, with a “prospect of halving” the debt by the end of 2026, which reached 60 billion euros in 2022. It remains to be seen whether these negotiations will succeed, or even if they will take place.
A “hold-up on Unédic’s finances”
“Not surprised by this very strict framework”, CFDT negotiator Olivier Guivarch first wants to “test the will of the employers’ organizations” to see if “passageways” are possible. Like the government, the employers consider that the priority is to reduce the number of vacant jobs, which, according to him, requires a tightening of unemployment compensation. For the unions, it is the attractiveness of jobs that is in question.
The CGT denounces in a press release a “hold-up on the finances of Unédic” and “does not intend to register” in the objectives of the government. She wants to “discuss with all the organizations making up the inter-union to make a concerted decision”, during a meeting after the summer holidays.
In February 2019, the last negotiations had ended in failure: the social partners had held the executive responsible, who had, according to them, placed them before an impossible equation by an overly strict framework letter. The government had then taken control and imposed its rules.