One of French President Emmanuel Macron’s obsessions is to achieve full employment in 2027. That is, for the neighboring country to have a structural unemployment rate of 5%. To this end, after raising the retirement age to 62 years, the previous Executive, led by Gabriel Attal, proposed a reform of the employment of “seniors” which social agents have been debating since April 2023 and, there, remains, without agreement. Despite this, French unemployment data for the third quarter, published this Wednesday, show a drop in unemployment among those over 50 by 0.3 points, to 4.7%, reaching its lowest level since 2008. according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. and economic studies (INSEE).
It is true that the data on summer unemployment among the rest of the working population are not so encouraging. Even if employment remains resilient in the neighboring country, the general unemployment rate is far from approaching the 5% desired by Macron. Concretely, it increased slightly between the months of July and September to reach 7.4%, or 0.1 more than in the previous quarter. Thus, the total number of unemployed in France increased by 35,000 people, to reach 2.3 million people.
As is the case in much of the Old Continent, young people between 14 and 24 years old are the most affected by unemployment. The rate increased by 1.8 points during the summer months, to 19.7%, an increase of 2.4 points compared to the same period of the previous year. Among people aged 25 to 49, this figure remained practically stable (6.6%).
But what stands out is the average in which the overall calculation of the active labor force is calculated. According to INSEE data, 69.1% were employed, which constitutes the highest rate since the beginning of censuses (1975), up more than 0.7 points in one year.
The aim of all this reform of the employment of “seniors” is that people at the end of their working life and unemployed, instead of resorting to unemployment benefits, work in a company at 80% and that the State takes care of the work. remainder of the contribution. The horizon is to ensure that 65% of people between 60 and 64 years old work in 2030, since the retirement age, according to the recent pension reform, will gradually increase until it reaches 64 years old.
This reform, like that of unemployment compensation, must be negotiated with social agents. Tomorrow (November 14) will be the decisive date so that employers and unions can make a decision regarding this law.
In the case of unions, phased retirement is very difficult. Employers have proposed a permanent contract for unemployed seniors, so that they do not have to resort to unemployment benefits before the end of their working life. This is the most difficult point of the negotiations on this measure.
This is a type of contract which would be intended for job seekers over 60 years old and unemployed for six months or more, knowing that it would authorize the employee to terminate it as soon as they reach the retirement age with full pension. This proposal also provides for the possibility, through negotiation between the company and the workeropen access to this type of senior permanent contract at age 57.
In this sense, people hired in this type of “senior” permanent contract would receive greater compensation for any loss of remuneration linked to their position. The same goes for the unemployed, who receive compensation calculated according to the amount of unemployment benefit, i.e. 57% of their last salary. For its part, from the age of 60, it will be the old salary itself which will be taken into account, always within the framework of the allowance rights acquired by the unemployed.
Thus, holders benefiting from this type of specific employment contract would work 80% of their time, receive 90% of their salary and be entitled to 100% of their pension. This leaves the possibility for Social Security to eliminate many unemployment benefits.
The objective of this new system would be to allow people at the end of their career to work part-time, without reducing their level of pension contributions. As the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, explained at the time, the costs linked to the implementation of this new contract would be financed between the State and businesses.
In this aspect, the employers’ union (Medef) faces SMEs. The Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises reiterates that this contractual model “will further increase the cost of labor”, which will cause a problem for the employment of older people.
What the SME employers’ union is proposing is to reduce the pace of work at the end of one’s career, first from the age of 55 and then from the age of 65, through training and audits.
This problem must be resolved before the end of the year. The current Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, must reduce spending while maintaining employment support policies, in order to achieve his objective of an unemployment rate of 5%. The government on Tuesday reversed plans to raise labor costs for businesses through taxes in the 2025 budgets, as business leaders and Assembly lawmakers warned such a move would destroy jobs.
