Preconceptions about unemployment insurance are difficult to dissolve. Overestimated unemployment rate, number of job seekers benefiting from an overestimated subsidy, lack of knowledge of compensation rules… The French often have a wrong view of the reality of unemployment. But the more informed they are, the more their prejudices and criticisms of job seekers fade.
For the sixth time since 2020, Unédic – a joint body that manages unemployment insurance –, in collaboration with Elabe’s cabinet, published, on Tuesday, November 26, its “Barometer of the perception of unemployment and employment.” Survey conducted on the Internet from September 4 to 27 with a representative sample of about 4,500 people (including 1,500 job seekers), using the quota method.
Since the first part of the study, in March 2020, some representations seem well rooted in the population, with elements that have changed very little. Thus, 95% of French people share the idea that “Everyone can experience a period of unemployment during their career” and 90% consider that diets are a “correct since it comes from contributions”. Unemployment insurance is also considered a “Shield that allows the majority of unemployed people to live with dignity” by a large majority of respondents (88%).
Worried vision of the future.
On the other hand, some positions are evolving. The economic context is one of the elements that plays in favor of these variations. Thus, when the situation of the labor market seems more uncertain, as is currently the case with the increase in unemployment (7.4% on 3my quarter – and a cascade of social plans and company bankruptcies, unemployment insurance benefits from a better image.
Today, 60% of respondents declare themselves attached to the French compensation model, a result that has increased three points in one year. Furthermore, 73% of French people consider that the existence of a system of this type reduces the fear of losing their job. A figure comparable to the fear of workers of losing their jobs in the current economic context. In fact, 28% of them judge “We are likely to experience a period of unemployment in the next two years”compared to 24% in 2023 and 22% in 2022.
This worried vision of the future, however, is not unrelated to ignorance of the reality of the labor market. The French have a fairly strong tendency to “blacken” the panorama; 60% think, for example, that the unemployment rate is 15.3% of the active population, while when they responded to the questionnaire it was 7.3%. Most of them (87%) also overestimate the proportion of job seekers who benefit from a subsidy: only 40% of people registered with France Travail receive compensation for unemployment insurance.
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