Postponing the retirement age means extending the duration of unemployment for older people. This is what opponents of pension reform fear. And there are many testimonials from fifty-year-olds who claim to find the greatest difficulties in accessing the labor market from the age of 55.
It is true that the employment rate (percentage of people working in the total population affected) has continued to increase in France for people aged 55 and over, rising from 37% in 2003 to more than 56% in 2021 according to Dares.
The latter even points out that “these rates are at their highest point since 1975.”
This rate exceeded 50% in 2015 and has continued to rise ever since, although it remains below the European average of over 60%.
Unemployment among the elderly is not really falling
This progression – which tends to show that older people are not personas non grata in business – is explained, in particular, by the different reforms of the pension system that have pushed back the average retirement age. In 2006, people retired on average at 61 years old compared to 62.9 years old in 2021. Whoever says that later departure means more activity and more jobs for older people.
However, there are two caveats to this flattering image. First, as Dares points out, it is mainly in the 55-59 age group that the employment rate remains high. It was 75.1% in 2021. But after the age of 60, this rate drops very sharply to 35.5% and even 20% after the age of 64. Which is logical, since it is during these five years that most people retire. But this employment rate of 60-64 years is clearly below the European average (-10.9 points).
Second drawback: the unemployment rate for the elderly has tended to stagnate for five years. It does not follow the unemployment decline curve observed in the other age categories. This proves the thesis according to which, in the absence of being able to retire due to the postponement of the age of majority, those between 55 and 64 years of age will have to wait until they leave, remaining unemployed.
The unemployment rate between 55 and 64 years certainly decreased between 2014 and 2017, from 7.4 to 6.6% of the active population in question. But it increased slightly again in 2018 and 2019 (6.8%). And after a sharp drop in 2020, the year of Covid, it rose again in 2021 (6.3%).
While the overall unemployment rate has fallen since 2015 in France, from 10.3 to 7.3% of the active population, that of the elderly does not experience the same trend.
If we take the number of older people unemployed (and no longer the rates), we see here again that the improvement in integration is long overdue. Apart from the exceptional year 2020, in which the number of unemployed older people fell to 284,000, the total number has remained above 300,000 since 2014. With 316,000 people aged 55-64 unemployed in 2021, the number is roughly equivalent to that of 2016 (326,000).
“I sent 900 resumes”
Chaotic career terminations, salary levels considered too high by recruiters, skills that are not sufficiently valued… There are many reasons that are put forward to explain these integration difficulties.
When asked to respond, the Labor Minister, Olivier Dussopt, recalled that the reform defended by the government provided for a qualification index for companies based on their participation in hiring older people.
“Companies that do not play the game and are not transparent will be penalized financially. And those that do not have sufficiently interesting results will be forced to negotiate an agreement,” he said.
Source: BFM TV
