The government has set the bar very high. While in France the employment rate of seniors between 60 and 64 years old is only 33%, that is, 13 points below the euro zone average, the executive wants it to increase to 65%. here to 2030, according to the framework letter addressed to the social partners. .
Because to achieve this ambitious goal, to say the least, the executive is not only counting on increasing the retirement age, which should mechanically boost the employment rate. He also counts on the negotiations between unions and employers that began this Tuesday.
However, in its framework letter the government established a principle: the proposals of the social partners to stimulate the employment of older people must not cost the State anything. In other words: expenses must be offset by the greatest amount of savings.
Index, senior permanent contract…
Regarding the measures, however, the executive leaves carte blanche to the social partners. “They have great freedom to negotiate what they want,” explains the Ministry of Labor.
In this way, several measures that had been considered as part of the pension reform before being rejected by the Constitutional Council could return to the center of the debate. Some unions could, in particular, call again for the creation of an index of older people, which would supposedly allow companies to be evaluated based on the employment of older people, but this time with sanctions for workers with poor results.
Employers could once again charge for the creation of a senior indefinite contract, a contract reserved for employees over 57 years of age, accompanied by a reduction in costs, on condition that companies retain the employees in question until they retire. A measure questioned by unions who see it as a form of stigmatization of older people, employed at a lower cost.
A time savings account for everyone
Another divisive issue: the government wants the creation of a universal time savings account, an old demand of the CFDT and campaign promise of Emmanuel Macron.
Specifically, it is about allowing all employees, and not just those in large groups, to enjoy vacation days that they can use throughout their career for personal projects, recycling, organizing work time or even retiring earlier. This account would be managed by a third party organization, such as the Personal Training Account managed by the Caisse des Dépôts, but would be supplemented by the employer. Businessmen are not in favor of it and therefore do not support it.
The Government leaves it in the hands of the social partners to define the deadline for reaching an agreement. If there is an agreement, he promises to faithfully repeat it in a bill, which could be presented before the summer.
Source: BFM TV
