A Pole emploi agency (illustrative image). – LOIC VENANCE / AFP
- “On July 1, the unemployment benefit for a minimum wage will drop from 985 euros to 667 euros! », Indignant a viral Facebook publication.
- This statement is authentic and in accordance with the new method of calculating this allowance, which will come into force on that date.
- However, the publication fails to specify that the jobseeker concerned will benefit from this allowance over a longer period – even if this change creates other concrete problems.
“Precariousness on the march! “Beyond this formula parodying the name of the presidential party, a viral Facebook post intends to denounce the expected drop in unemployment benefit allocated to certain categories of workers.
“On July 1, the unemployment benefit for a minimum wage will drop from 985 euros to 667 euros! », Takes offense to this visual, shared more than 2,000 times on the social network.
Reliable calculation or misleading figures? 20 minutes make the point.
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The first stage of the reform of unemployment benefit will begin on July 1, with the reform of its method of calculation. From this date, the daily reference wage (SJR) will take into account the periods of inactivity of unemployed workers.
“These new calculation rules lead to less compensation, but longer: 14 months on average, compared to 11 currently. According to Unédic estimates, overall, 63% of beneficiaries will receive lower compensation in total and 23% higher compensation ”, detailed the Public Service site. While recalling that “to avoid too low incomes for the most precarious people, this reduction in allowance will be limited by a floor: the SJR will decrease by 43% maximum compared to the method of calculation of the unemployment agreement of 2017”.
Concretely, according to the example given in March by the Ministry of Labor, an employee paid minimum wage who worked for 8 months over the reference period (24 months) would be paid an unemployment benefit of 667 euros over 14 months … against 985 euros for 8 months now. It is this example – authentic, therefore – which is repeated on the Facebook post, even if it is careful not to specify this change in the duration of compensation.
If the government touts the increased duration of this compensation, it is still reduced each month, while “the fixed costs of the job seeker, such as rent, will not decrease, [ce qui ne] will only increase his financial insecurity ”, as recently deplored by 20 minutes Eric Courpotin, Confederal Secretary of the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC).
Not to mention that the 800,000 job seekers who were to be affected by this reduction in allowance, according to the first analysis of Unédic dated autumn 2020, would actually be much more numerous if we are to believeits updated forecasts, dated April 7, 2021: “The first year, with the new method of calculating the SJR, 1.15 million beneficiaries will open a right with a lower daily allowance (by 17% on average) than with the rules in force until then. “
Savings of 2.3 billion euros per year
In addition, “beneficiaries rarely go to the end of their rights”, as recently reminded him Release Eric Heyer, director of the analysis and forecasting department of the French Observatory of Economic Conditions. Even by increasing their compensation period up to 14 months, the government is therefore making sure to save money.
And not the least: according to the impact study of Unédic, they would equate to “a reduction in expenditure of around 2.3 billion euros per year at full speed, that is to say once we have returned to the economic situation close to that which we experienced before the health crisis. “