It’s official. To respond to the labor shortage, Emmanuel Macron announces a labor reform law “from this summer”, which will concern not only unemployment insurance but also training, especially for seniors. In this text, the tenant of the Elysée also wishes to include provisions “on the validation of acquired experience.
“As of this summer, there will have to be a text of law, after discussion with the social partners”, said the Head of State, who mentioned the “reform of the RSA”, a “reform of France Travail” instead of Pole Emploi, but also a reform of the vocational high school and “lifelong” training. “Many people are unemployed today because they have a training that does not correspond to the needs of the nation”, specified the President of the Republic.
Go further than the reform of the first five-year term
Promised by Emmanuel Macron during his campaign, this reform of unemployment insurance would aim to go a step further than that already made during the first five-year term. “Of course we have to go further”, reacted Emmanuel Macron this Thursday, July 14.
On paper, this act 2 should modulate the compensation according to the economic situation. The more the situation deteriorates, the more generous the compensation system. And conversely, the more it improves, the less the scheme pays compensation. With slowing growth, but an employment rate that remains high, the government would do well not to expect too much.
In the reform, it would also be, according to several sources, to tighten certain rules which can encourage employees to benefit unduly from allowances and to remain unemployed. “There are many blind spots, gray areas in the system, which do not favor the return to employment”, pleads a good connoisseur of the file, close to the executive. Example: “when you leave your job overnight, without giving a sign to your employer, you can still receive an allowance”, he develops. By tightening certain compensation rules a little more, the government therefore hopes to encourage workers to return to work more quickly.
On the calendar side, there is a shooting window. The unemployment insurance agreement ends on October 31… We must therefore decide. The government can therefore choose either to keep the same rules or to modify them. Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labour, assured this week that the current unemployment insurance agreement would be extended for a year.
In order not to judge him, Emmanuel Macron could work on act 2 of the unemployment insurance reform for application in the summer of 2023.
Unions opposed, but public opinion more favorable
And too bad if the unions are against it. From the CFE-CGC to the CFDT, via the CGT, all fought against the latest reform, and there is little chance that they have changed their minds.
Questioned on France Info, this last Monday, Philippe Martinez the leader of the CGT thus regretted “that the government is still in the belief that it is enough to tighten the system, so that job seekers find work. is a bit more complicated than that.” And the leader of the union of Montreuil to point out that barely one out of two unemployed was compensated. In other words, one does not remain unemployed for pleasure or interest.
The government knows, however, that in public opinion, the opposition is much more divided. No unemployment insurance reform has brought crowds to the streets. To convince the reluctant, the government intends to present this reform as a solution to fight against rising prices.
“The best answer to purchasing power is the salary,” said Emmanuel Macron.
Finally, politically, this discourse on the priority of work will appeal to Republicans. While the government is looking for allies in the National Assembly, this can be a way of rallying some elected officials on the right, or even on the far right. It is still necessary to obtain a “responsible compromise”
Finding budgetary margins
By reforming unemployment insurance, the executive also hopes to regain some budgetary leeway. Emmanuel Macron has pledged to achieve full employment, that is to say an unemployment rate of around 5%… by the end of the five-year term. He confirmed on July 14 his desire to achieve this.
The issue is all the more important since it is through full employment that the executive intends to find sources of financing to invest in schools, ecological transition, health… Much more than by reducing the expenses.
Last argument that the executive does not advance openly but in the head, this reform would also be a sign sent to Brussels. A guarantee of France’s ability to continue its transformation.
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