Posted Oct 21, 2022, 6:09 PMUpdated Oct 21, 2022 6:26 PM
To continue to finance the French social model and create room for maneuver to “invest massively” in ecological transition, schools and hospitals, Emmanuel Macron repeats that we must “work more and longer” and hopes that a new pension reform comes into force in the summer of 2023 .
The government, which aims to pass a bill on this ultra-sensitive issue before the end of winter, opened consultations with the social partners in early October. The cycle of discussions began with the theme of the employment of seniors. A central theme: “We will not be able to discuss the extension of the duration of the career, if we do not resolve the fate of all those who are put out before retirement”, warned Laurent Berger, the secretary general of the CFDT.
Because despite recruitment tensions, the employment rate of the over 55s in France remains well below the European average. In 2021, it was 56% for 55-64 year olds compared to 60.5% in the euro zone, 71.9% in Germany, according to the OECD. If he is on the other hand in the average between 50 and 59 years old, he collapses between 60 and 64 years old.
In short, in France, at the time of liquidating their pension rights, nearly one out of two insured persons is no longer in employment. Under these conditions, how can we envisage pushing back the retirement age without risking tipping more seniors into inactivity, or even precariousness? This is the complex equation that the executive must solve.
Find in this file the explanations and decryptions of the specialists of the “Echos”:
Generation contract, “Delalande” contribution…
The objective of maintaining seniors in employment and combating discrimination in hiring has been regularly displayed for decades.
François Hollande had notably imagined in 2012 the “generation contract”, which helped companies to hire a young person on permanent contracts if they maintained in employment an employee over 57 years old. But the device had not worked and had ended up being repealed by the work orders of 2017.
Earlier, in 1987, a so-called “Delalande” contribution was created, aimed at penalizing companies separating from seniors. This had turned against the employees: in order not to be taxed by leaving their fifties, the companies separated from them before 49 years… The measure had been removed in 2008.
The tracks of the government
The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, and the Minister of Labour, Full Employment and Integration, Olivier Dussopt.JEANNE ACCORSINI/SIPA
To improve the situation, Olivier Dussopt, the Minister of Labour, intends to put pressure on companies… but also on the unemployed. In an interview with the “Journal du Dimanche” on October 9, he mentioned the possibility of revising the maximum duration of compensation for the unemployed, which from the age of 55 goes from 24 to 36 months. “While it is legitimate to have specific rules”, he declares, this duration can be seen, according to him, “as a way of shedding” by companies.
The Minister also believes that more investment must be made in prevention by improving working conditions to limit early departures and strengthen training and retraining for older workers.
The creation of a professional index of the employment of seniors, on the model of that for gender equality, is also under debate.
To promote a return to work, one of the avenues envisaged is to allow a senior who has a less well-paid job to keep part of his unemployment benefit in order to compensate for the loss of earnings. The State also wishes to encourage gradual retirement and combined employment with retirement.
The choices of the executive are expected for December, Elisabeth Borne, the Prime Minister, having promised “an assessment” of the discussions with the social partners “before Christmas”.