This Friday, the unemployment insurance reform entered into force. Due to the change in the way compensation is calculated, many future unemployed people will see their compensation drop. Until now, the daily reference wage (SJR) was obtained by dividing the gross wages received during the last 12 months by the number of days worked. With the reform, part of the days not worked during the last 24 months will be counted in the SJR.
According to an estimate made public in April by Unédic, up to 1.15 million job seekers will see their allowance decrease by 17% on average. At the same time, the theoretical duration of compensation will be longer, going from eleven to fourteen months on average. The unions denounce a false advantage, since few unemployed would go to the end of their total compensation, finding a job before. Unédic therefore estimates that “approximately 63% of beneficiaries who will be impacted by the reform during the first year will benefit from lower total compensation while 23% will receive higher total compensation”.
“We can no longer live between two contracts”
This reform does not apply retroactively, namely for people currently receiving an allowance or having finished their contract before September 30. For the future unemployed, on the other hand, desperation is compounded by anger. Grégoire’s * CDD * ends on Friday October 8 and, as a journalist linking periods of employment and periods of no activity, he is one of the workers who will be the most affected by this reform: his unemployment benefit will be reduced. by almost half, and will now be less than 700 euros. “This is a deeply unfair and cruel reform. I have contributed for years, and don’t tell me that so much was taken from my salary and then paid so little when I am unemployed. “In an extremely precarious profession, especially since the coronavirus crisis, he denounces:” We can no longer live between two contracts. This reform massively worsens precariousness. Nobody likes being unemployed or not working for months, but at least before you could survive. “
As a result of this massive drop in income, Grégoire, 32, will return to live with his parents in Bordeaux. “This makes me less mobile, especially for job search in Paris, which concentrates the majority of journalism jobs. This reform reinforces the difficulty of resuming a job: the less money you have, the less efficient you are at seizing offers. “
Youth on the front line of the victims of the reform
Another situation and almost a decade apart, Simon *, 23, is also one of the populations most affected by the reform: young people entering the job market. At the end of his studies, this summer, he managed to get a first four-month fixed-term contract, which will end at the end of October. Sufficient, before the reform, to receive unemployment benefit for four months. With the new rules, the young Montpellier is no longer eligible, since it is necessary to work at least six full months in two years to receive an allowance. According to Unédic, 190,000 people will not open rights in the next 12 months although they could have contributed without the reform. 285,000 other people will see their opening of rights delayed, by five months on average, with this reform. Of this total of 475,000 people, 160,000 are under 26, an “over-represented” category.
A change that outraged Simon: “The government knows very well the difficulty of the labor market for young people and how the coronavirus has made young people even more precarious. How can a reform that weakens us even more, we who have lost our best years and are queuing for food aid, pass at this time? “
“Economic, moral and symbolic” violence
For Hadrien Clouet, sociologist of employment and unemployment, “this reform is economic violence, but also moral and symbolic. The unemployed are made responsible for the poor employment situation in France, and they are penalized instead of attacking employers and companies. ”As a reminder, we estimate at 300,000 the number of unfilled contracts in France for 2.4 million job seekers.
The sociologist continues: “There is an imbalance between the balance of power between the unemployed and the companies, which are already greatly advantaged. The government’s argument is that this reform fights against short contracts. But on the contrary, those made vulnerable by the reform will no longer be able to negotiate and employers will be able to offer contracts even worse than before. There is enormous violence in this asymmetry. “
“Tranquility is definitely not for tomorrow”
Psychologist, Sophie *, 47, will lose around 100 euros per month as a result of the reform. “It may not seem like much, but when you’re precarious, each euro is important, so losing a hundred …”, she breathes. She had long hoped that the reform, contested by all the unions and suspended twice by the Council of State, would be further postponed. Its passage in force at the end of September the mine of despair: “At two months of Christmas, and after two years deprived of pleasure by the coronavirus, one undergoes the worst reform against the precarious ones. Peace is definitely not for tomorrow. “
This mother of two was counting on the school holidays of All Saints’ Day to leave for a few days to forget the difficulties of the last months. A project made impossible following the upcoming reduction in his allowance. And all those who would be tempted to think that a person not working does not have to go on vacation, “let them be well seen”, she concludes. The anger has not finished roaring.
* The first names have been changed.