2023-08-01 14:43:05
It took a while but here it is. The social partners received shortly before noon on Tuesday the “framework document relating to the negotiation of the unemployment insurance agreement” that the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, had promised them when she brought them together at Matignon for the end of July. .
This 4-page text defines the executive’s requirements for discussions between employers and unions, starting with their timetable. He specifies that they must be concluded “by November 15 at the latest”.
Do not reconsider the calculation of the SJR
At the top of the list is the requirement not to go back on the calculation of the daily reference wage (SJR) which serves as the basis for the allowance. A calculation disputed by the unions on multiple occasions, including, without success, in court. The negotiators are called upon to ensure that “the method of calculating the daily reference wage does not create a more favorable incentive than the current system” for the alternation of short contracts and periods of unemployment.
Nor is there any question of reconsidering the countercyclical nature of the unemployment insurance scheme now enshrined in the law, which will have to be “preserved”. According to this principle, the duration of compensation is reduced when employment is plentiful, lengthened otherwise.
But while the extension from 4 to 6 months in the last 24 months of the minimum duration of activity to open rights to compensation arouses an outcry from the unions, the framework document does not close the door to an evolution on this point. It is content to mention “a minimum duration of employment to open up a right to unemployment which is a sufficient incentive for employment”.
The text also mentions the objective of “reducing certain difficulties in accessing the right to unemployment insurance”. This point refers a priori to a simplification of the conditions imposed on resigners pursuing a retraining project or the creation of an activity introduced by the law of 2018.
Opening a new front
The government is opening another front by asking the social partners to “correct the effective differences in incentives to return to work according to the level of remuneration” on the grounds that “identical rules for all job seekers, under the appearance of equality, do not take into account the actual ability to find a job”. It is certainly a question of looking at the rule of degression which reduces by 30% after six months the allowances for incomes above 4,500 gross.
The framework document also invites the social partners to “draw the consequences of the extension of the duration of activity on the rules of compensation for seniors”. It targets in particular the rule according to which a jobseeker remains compensated by Pôle emploi beyond the legal age until he has acquired all his quarters of contribution. The parameters of reduced activity could also be reviewed by means of a lesser drain on the allowance in the event of the resumption of paid work (currently 70% regardless of age), in order to make the resumption of better paying job.
The document also mentions, on the employers’ side, the need to “guarantee” the continuation of the bonus-malus system put in place to disadvantage employers who overuse short contracts, but without requiring a tightening of the criteria.
Caution on intermittent workers
With regard to the system for intermittent workers, an explosive file which is the subject of a specific appendix, the cautious government is careful not to light the fuse, throwing the ball back to the social partners by asking them to address the professionals of the sector a “framework document”.
The text of the government is also extremely directive on the financial level, auguring very little financial room for maneuver for the social partners. While the unemployment insurance scheme should experience record surpluses, the first objective set by the government in the negotiations is to reduce the scheme’s debt “significantly”.
At the same time, he announced that he was going to use the latter financially to finance “the policy in favor of skills development and access to employment”. First, Unédic’s revenue will be punctured by more than 11 billion between 2023 and 2026, mainly to finance apprenticeship. Secondly, the share of these same revenues allocated to the budget of Pôle emploi (France work tomorrow) will gradually increase from 11% to 12% or 13% on this horizon.
At the same time, the share of CSG allocated to Unédic since the abolition of the employee contribution to unemployment insurance will be maintained at “1.47 points of CSG activity”. All in all, Unédic’s debt must be halved to reach 30 billion in 2026, anticipates Matignon.
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