While the decree allowing the implementation of the new unemployment insurance reform will be published on July 1, 2024, the National Interprofessional Union for Employment in Industry and Commerce (Unédic) announced the revaluation of unemployment benefit on July 1. The unions were quick to express their disappointment at the low increase.
The unemployment insurance benefit will be increased by 1.2% from July 1st. Unédic, an association managed by unions and employers, which gave the information in a press release on Thursday, June 27th, specifies that the increase would affect “approximately 2 million compensated job seekers” out of 2.7 million people looking for work. Unédic explains that the decision to increase this benefit was voted “by a majority of votes cast” by the representatives of employees and employers who make it up.
In a press release made public following this decision, the CGT made a point of denouncing “the extreme weakness of this revaluation” due, according to its press release, to the fact that the employers “blocked its position at an increase of 1.2%” , while “all trade union organizations demanded that inflation be taken into account”. The General Confederation of Workers deplores that “a few days before the legislative elections, the government and employers continue to target unemployment insurance recipients” with positions of “unspeakable seriousness”. In its diatribe, the union denounces what it describes as “the criminal obstinacy of employers and the government”, even though “the extreme right thrives on social despair”.
A first proposal for a 1% revaluation
For its part, the CFDT “bitterly regrets the employers’ decision to increase unemployment benefits too little”. In its press release, it indicates that “the employers made a first proposal for an increase of 1% and only granted 1.2% after a suspension of the session”.
For its part, Unédic explains that this revaluation, which comes after two others in 2023, “takes into account both the economic context and the financial balance of the unemployment insurance system”. In addition to the increases of 1.9% on April 1, 2023, and 1.9% on July 1, 2023, the association recalls that the annual revaluation was 1.68% over the last five years. “The 2024 increase is estimated at 150 million euros for the unemployment insurance system,” according to Unédic, which assures that it will be 210 million euros in 2025.
