Other. Less than a year after the entry into force of the new unemployment insurance agreement, the government already wishes to reform compensation rules for employment applicants. On Monday, July 21, the Minister of Labor and Employment, Astrid Panosyan -Bouvet, presented to the CFDT and the CFTC, the only unions that agreed to fulfill it after the budget ads of François Bayrou last week, the main addresses that should appear in the letter of the next negotiations …
Provided that social partners agree to discuss another system aimed at protecting assets looking for a new job. Something far from winning, at this stage of exchanges with the government.
Bring the duration of compensation to the European average
And for a good reason: even if the ministry has been careful not to detail its intentions, the main guidelines revealed to social partners announce a hardening for the beneficiaries of France’s work.
However, according to data compared to UNEDIC in a study published in October 2024, the maximum compensation duration amounts to 24 months in Germany, two years maximum for a period of three years in Denmark, just under two years in Spain (720 days).
However, the rules are more rigid in Finland, where the maximum compensation duration is 10 to 16 months, depending on the antiquity and age of the employment search engine. Even more severe, unemployment insurance in Britain only covers British workers for six months … the minimum duration currently in force in France!
Currently in France, any work search engine that is entitled to unemployment affects the allocations for at least six months and a maximum of 18 months for people under 55 years, 22.5 months for the unemployed of 55 and 56 years and 27 months for those over 57 years.
Extend the affiliation period to open unemployment rights
Contacted by BFM Business, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, however, ensures that it is not planned, at this stage, to modify the parameters related to the duration of compensation of employment applicants. “It is rather the decrease in the affiliation reference period (PRA) that would have an impact on the duration of compensation,” it is said to emphasize that the ideas presented to social partners remain “vagas” in this stage of exchanges and that will not be specified until negotiations, if they take place.
Therefore, nothing decided on the duration of compensation … but it would be a matter of acting on the PRA used to calculate unemployment rights.
Enough to remember the project initially led by Gabriel Attal, when it was still prime minister, in the spring of 2024, before falling into the water under the effect of the dissolution of the National Assembly. The former Tenant of Matignon and now general secretary of the Renaissance party in fact extended the minimum working time carried out, during a reference period shortened at 20 months instead of two years for children under 57 or 30 months for those over 6 to 8 months. By hardening the compensation rules, the former head of government expected to reach 3.6 billion euros throughout the year.
Currently, to be entitled to unemployment, employment applicants must have worked at least six months for a period of two years if they are less than 55 years, or at least six months for a period of 36 months if they are older.
The Spectrum of the White Year
And that’s not all. As Prime Minister François Bayrou announced last week, to generate 43.8 billion euros in savings of 2026, a white year is expected for all budgets, except the defense, of which President Emmanuel Macron has promised an increase of 6.5 billion euros in two years.
As a result, employment applicants should not escape the freezing of their unemployment benefits, in the same way as pensions for retirees and other social benefits paid to the beneficiaries of the Family Assignment Fund (CAF), such as housing help or activities premiums. In other words: it is likely that the unemployment benefits paid for France’s work to employment applicants be valued by the Unédic Board of Directors, taking into account the economic context and de facto inflation. “This is triple pain!” The president of the CFTC passes, Cyril Chabaier.
Limit the abuse of conventional ruptures
Another explosive project that should be added to the negotiations of the unemployment insurance reform, conventional ruptures: a device that would have been “devoured” according to the Minister of Labor and Employment, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet.
Among the alleged positions on the table, in particular is an extension of the period of deficiency, that is, the period during which the employee has negotiated a contractual termination with his company does not have the right to unemployment insurance.
Current regulations provide a minimum period of seven days. The more the employee receives compensation from his company, the more the deficiency period before having the right to unemployment is longer. However, the maximum delay is limited to a maximum of five months.
An interunion mobilization at the beginning of the school year?
However: at this stage exchanges with the ministry, there is no guarantee that negotiations, to reform unemployment insurance, by introducing this reflection on conventional ruptures, really remain.
Tuesday, eight unions – CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE -CGC, CFTC, UNSA, FSU and SOLIDAIRE, launched a request on the Change.org platform to obtain the abandonment of the budgetary measures presented to Franish Bayrou. At a time when we wrote these lines, she has already collected more than 155,000 signatures. In addition, the CFDT, the CGT, FO, the CFE-CGC and the CFTC do not exclude a mobilization between union at the beginning of the school year.
However, if the negotiations open again to the unemployment insurance system, the savings expected by the Government would amount to “2.5 billion euros in 2026 and between 4 and 5 billion euros in 2030,” said CFTC COFTC CFTC Cyril Chabanier.
Source: BFM TV
