The social partners also found a consensus on seniors and social dialogue.
The unions and employers reached three draft agreements on Thursday, November 14 evening, on unemployment insurance, employment of seniors et social dialogueafter long negotiations, thus avoiding giving control to the government on these sensitive subjects. Each organization will now have to validate it individually, just like the executive.
Concerning seniors, the signatories wish to experiment over five years with an employment contract “to promote experience”, to encourage hiring from the age of 60 (57 in the event of a sector agreement). And also rely on progressive retirement, which allows you to receive part of your pension while still working part-time.
They also want, on the social dialogue side, to put an end to an article which caps the number of mandates of elected staff members in companies.
These are the main changes planned, moreover, for January 1, 2025 for unemployment insurance. They should generate €2.48 billion in savings over the period 2025-2028, then ultimately bring in €1.7 billion per year, beyond the government's expectations.
Access
First change: to register for unemployment insurance for the first time, you will need to have worked at least five months, and not six, over the last 24 months.
Duration
The threshold giving entitlement to long-term compensation (22.5 months maximum) is increased by two years: it goes from 53 to 55 years. The one who gives entitlement to 27 months climbs from 55 to 57 years.
A decline in seniors' rights but a big saving according to Unédic: €350 million over four years. For other job seekers, the maximum duration of compensation is set at 18 months. The draft agreement also provides for shifting the age from which maintenance of the allowance is possible until full retirement is obtained, “in line with the progressive evolution of the legal retirement age up to 64 years in 2030“.
Amount
The allowance received by the jobseeker will be the same each month, based on 30 days. But the unemployed will lose five days of compensation over an entire year and even six in leap years. This will generate savings of €1.2 billion over four years. On the other hand, to take into account the delicate situation of seniors, the reduction in unemployment benefit, which concerns high incomes, will no longer be applied from the age of 55, compared to 57 until now.
Employer contributions
The employer contribution for unemployment insurance will increase from 4.05% to 4% of gross salary on May 1, 2025. At a cost of around €1.5 billion in four years.
Entrepreneurs
For all job seekers who create or take over a business, the new text addresses the “windfall effects“. The objective: to prevent a former unemployed person who has found a full-time permanent contract from continuing to receive aid. And save the passenger €1.4 billion in four years.
Border workers
The agreement also aims to reduce compensation for certain cross-border workers, by applying a coefficient based on the salary level of the country in which they worked, which should reduce their allowance. The signatories also want cross-border workers not to be able to refuse a position at French salary level, according to BFMTV.
Seasonal
The social partners wish, on the other hand, to secure the often precarious situation of seasonal workers: the affiliation condition is lowered (five months), as is the ceiling of non-worked periods taken into account in the calculation of the allowance.
