World News: France Seeks to Weaponize Unemployment Benefits

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Category: Haute This Issue
Published on Monday, 22 April 2024 14:05
Written by Olivier Longhi

France is attempting to revitalize its struggling labor market and is warming to the idea of weaponizing unemployment insurance, and the duration of benefits to force the unemployed workers back to the job market, in any capacity.

The measures announced by the Government to reduce the duration of benefits and the amount of benefits granted to jobseekers with the aim of reviving the labour market do little to hide the desire to reduce the public deficit and the thinly veiled stigmatization of jobseekers.

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The reform of unemployment insurance, presented on 27 March by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and according to the latter, is intended to bring about a rapid return to employment. The simple method has already been in place since 2017: reduce the amount and duration of unemployment benefits for jobseekers. The measure is not new in a country that has never been able to tame mass unemployment since the seventies, a wound that is impossible to heal in the world's seventh largest economy (Statista 2022 data).

One Unemployed, One Job

While for many economists the idea of reducing compensation and the associated duration can potentially have effects (it should be remembered, however, that for two consecutive quarters the unemployment rate has risen again to 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023), the measure in question is above all in line with the Government's desire to continue the reduction of the public deficit set by the Ministry of Finance, This year's reduction was set at ten billion euros.

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In concrete terms, the measures proposed by the Government, which will come into force on 1 July, should, according to the first estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, generate between two and three billion euros in savings. From an accounting point of view, the Government can rub its hands together considering that these savings and the measures that generate them are pushing the country a little further towards full employment set at 5% of the working population.

An ambitious goal, to be sure. Except that with three million jobseekers receiving benefits, the vast majority of whom have not asked to suffer this situation, and companies, some of which are struggling to recruit, it is not written that we will be able to put an unemployed person in front of every vacant job.

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Precarious and Stigmatized

Thus, apart from the purely financial measure contained in this reform, there is also the underlying idea that jobseekers are indulging in their temporary inactivity, giving them the image of parasites of society living off the generosity of the welfare state. Here again, this is a misunderstanding of the socio-economic reality of the country and especially of those who are subject to unemployment benefits.

Already precarious because of their situation, job seekers find themselves stigmatized and potentially forced to accept a job that does not suit them. With what result: resignation from the job concerned, unhappiness.

And back to France Travail. One thing is obvious: calling for a reduction in the number of job seekers is commendable; Blaming them is not a solution. Proof of this is, once again, that the weapon of employment is often deliberately used in a populist, gratuitous and easy logic.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist, recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, a press and publishing consultant, and a communications consultant.

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