The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday 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 the full employment. He noted on Franceinfo compensation of “27 months” for those over 55, compared to “18 months” for younger unemployed people, a way according to him “to retire those over 55 early”.
“No reason for there to be a longer compensation period”
For him, “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), an objective which represents full employment. “Something is wrong in the French social model” which prevents this from being achieved, according to him. “One of the ways is through the employment of seniors,” said the minister.
“Would those over 55 be worth less? I see no reason for there to be a longer compensation period, it’s total hypocrisy, a way of putting them into retirement in advance,” he assured. He recalled that the employment rate of seniors was “ten points” lower in France than the general employment rate of 68%. “The message I want to send them is ‘we need you, we need your experience’,” added Bruno Le Maire.
The agreement on unemployment insurance “perfectable”
He said “to raise the debate” of a reduction in the duration of compensation for seniors “with the total determination to achieve this 5% unemployment rate which we have not reached for half a century in France” . He also judged the agreement on unemployment insurance signed last week by the social partners to be “perfectable”, particularly on this issue of seniors.
He also criticized the financing measures which appear in the agreement, with “certain expenses”, such as reductions in contributions, compensated by “unlikely savings”.
“We need to create businesses”
The agreement proposes in particular “to make savings on the creation of businesses”, noted Bruno Le Maire, judging “the idea a bit baroque because we need to create businesses, and the economy estimated at almost of 900 million euros seems very improbable to me.
“On the financial side, we can legitimately express doubts, I had the opportunity to explain this with the president of Medef,” concluded the minister.