the link between the legal retirement age and senior unemployment confirmed by a study

Demonstration, on the fifth day of national rallies organized since the beginning of the year, against a deeply unpopular pension overhaul, in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on February 16, 2023 ROMAN PERROCHEAU / AFP

Do the legal retirement age and the rules of unemployment insurance have an impact on the strategy of companies – sometimes shared by the unions and the employees concerned – to separate themselves from seniors? According to a study by Unédic, published on Wednesday 1^is March, this hypothesis tends to be confirmed.

The legal retirement age in fact leads to a peak in conventional terminations three years before, which corresponds to the duration of unemployment compensation from which the over 55s could benefit, according to a study by Unédic.

Read also: Small pensions, long careers, impact for women: questions to understand pension reform

In the latter, the association observes in 2021 a sharp increase at age 59 in these ruptures ” from a common agreement “which give the right to unemployment, while the legal retirement age is 62 and those over 55 could be compensated for three years.

While 17% of the openings of the right to unemployment at age 56 are following a breakup, this figure rises to 25% at age 59, a rate “which goes back to the level observed for 30-somethings, the age category most affected by contractual terminations”, notes Unédic. In 2010, while the legal retirement age was still 60, this peak was reached around 57-58.

This peak should shift in the future under the effect of the new unemployment insurance rules which have reduced since 1^is February the maximum duration of compensation of 25% for new entrants to unemployment, ie 27 months instead of 36 for those over 55 years old.

The government is also in favour, in the pension reform being debated in Parliament, that contractual terminations before the legal retirement age are subject to the same social package of 30% as those occurring after it is not for the only 20%.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Pension reform: “The early exit of seniors from the labor market is not inevitable”

According to the study, the postponement of the legal age from 60 to 62 led between 2010 and 2022 to an increase of 100,000 in the number of beneficiaries over 60 years old. Among these additional beneficiaries, 65,000 are 60 or 61 years old due to the difference in the legal age. And 20,000 are 65 or 66 years old, due to the shift in the age at which the discount can be canceled (from 65 to 67 years old) and the increase in the contribution period.

Finally, the study focuses on a provision that allows, under conditions, to continue to be compensated by unemployment insurance beyond three years, until access to a full pension, at the latest. at age 67. At the end of June 2022, of the 72,000 benefit recipients aged 62 or over, 21,000 are beneficiaries of this system.

Our selection of articles on pension reform

The World with AFP