Olivier Dussopt mentioned this Wednesday, in an interview with Le Parisien, the example of Canada that should inspire the new unemployment insurance reform desired by Emmanuel Macron to achieve full employment. How does the Canadian system work, on which the Minister of Labor wishes to be inspired to further develop financial support for job seekers in France?
The Canadian system is based on a modulation of both the duration and the potential amount of compensation paid to job applicants. Thus, depending on the unemployment rate observed in the region where the worker who lost his job lives, the duration of the compensation can vary from one to three. It will be limited to 14 months if the unemployment rate does not exceed 6%, but it may go up to 45 months if it exceeds 13%.
If we were to do the same in France, this would be equivalent to oscillating the duration of the compensation between one and three years (the current maximum limit, for job seekers who have exceeded 55 years).
The regional unemployment rate serves as a reference
For the calculation of the allowance to be paid to the job seeker, the level of the unemployment rate observed at the regional level plays a more marginal role. The system is complex. It is about taking more or less into account the possible differences in the level of salary that affects each week the worker who is unemployed. The lower the unemployment rate, the less the job seeker benefits from having been particularly well paid during certain weeks during the period considered for the calculation of their allowances.
In both cases, therefore, it is the regional unemployment rate that serves as a reference to change the conditions of the financial support provided to job seekers. An approach that, for once, is unlikely to be taken as a model in France. In his interview with Parisina, the Minister of Labor evokes two clues.
A mission entrusted to experts regarding the minimum wage?
First possibility: entrust the mission to experts, as is the case with Smic, where every year a group of five economists publishes a report in which it makes its recommendations to the government. Second possibility: take into account the evolution of the labor market, modifying the rules, in a more flexible or more severe version, depending on whether unemployment increases or decreases several quarters in a row.
But how many consecutive quarters? Two or three? And according to which indicator: the unemployment rate measured by INSEE or the number of people registered in Pôle Emploi? And if the latter option is chosen, which category(ies) of job applicants should be considered?
Source: BFM TV
