On Saturday 25 May, the Prime Minister announced that the rules governing unemployment benefit will be tightened from 1 December. The duration of compensation will be reduced to 15 months ‘under current conditions’, i.e. if the unemployment rate remains below 9%, for unemployed people under 57

In an interview published in La Tribune Dimanche on Saturday 25 May, Gabriel Attal confirmed that the unemployment insurance compensation rules will be tightened from 1 December in order to ‘move towards full employment’ and ‘place even greater value on work’.

He also specified that the duration of compensation will be reduced to 15 months if the unemployment rate remains below 9%, for unemployed people aged under 57. In addition, in order to be entitled to benefit, the unemployed will have to have worked for 8 months out of the last 20 months, compared with 6 months out of the last 24 months at present. These measures confirm the guidelines presented this week to the social partners by the Minister for Employment, Catherine Vautrin.

With regard to implementation, Gabriel Attal has indicated that the government will issue a decree on 1 July to enable the reform to come into force on 1 December. This change will require France Travail (formerly Pôle Emploi) to update its information systems, which cannot be done immediately.

For Gabriel Attal, ‘this is not a reform for the economy, but for prosperity and activity’.

He believes that the reform will enable more French people to work, thereby increasing funding for the system. The government anticipates savings of €3.6 billion and an increase of 90,000 people in employment as a result of the reform.According to the CGT, the tightening of the affiliation condition alone would generate savings of 2.8 billion euros.Denis Gravouil, negotiator on unemployment insurance for the CGT, criticised the reform, describing it as ‘criminal’ because of its negative impact on the health of the unemployed, citing a suicide rate twice as high among the unemployed at the end of their entitlement.