The French Government details how it will tighten unemployment benefits

The government of France specified this Sunday the details of his promised reform of the subsidy unemploymentwhich will tighten access and duration, and will save 3.6 billion euros per year.

The objective, as explained by the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, in an interview published today by La Tribune Dimanche, is to encourage some unemployed to go to the job market sooner and move “towards full employment.”

Firstly, it will be necessary to have worked 8 months out of the last 20 to be able to receive the subsidy, while the current system requires 6 months worked in the last 24.

In addition, the duration of unemployment benefits, which had already been cut from 24 to 18 months during Macron’s presidency, will be reduced again to 15.

And that duration is expected to drop again if the unemployment rate falls below 6.5% (it is currently at 7.5%).

All of this is for workers under 57 years of age, since people over that age will have compensation for unemployment longer because it is much more complicated for them.

Attal explains that the reforms applied since the arrival of Emmanuel Macron to the presidency in 2017 have created 2.5 million jobs, so that “the unemployment rate is the lowest in forty years.”

On the other hand, the Government is studying extending the mechanism by which some companies that abuse very short-term contracts pay more in their social contributions, while those that do not receive discounts.

According to government calculations, in addition to the annual savings of around 3.6 billion euros, this reform will cause around 90,000 people to leave the ranks of unemployment.

The Executive plans to approve this reform by decree on July 1, with its entry into force scheduled for December 1, with the aim of taking advantage of the cycle of greater growth predicted by economic forecasts starting in 2025.