Should seniors be encouraged to take lower paid jobs?

Seniors would keep part of their unemployment benefits, which would allow them to supplement their income, but that makes the unions wince. This would mean selling off salaries… However, if seniors have high salaries, it is because they have skills and experience. Employers would thus be an incentive to recruit experienced people by having unemployment insurance pay for part of these hires. Companies would be winners.

>> Is the employment rate of French seniors one of the lowest in Europe?

Another government proposal will also be controversial: lower the duration of compensation for unemployed seniors. Today, those over 55 are compensated for 36 months. For Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labour, it is far too long. He sees a way of shedding, a way to keep them away from a resumption of activity.

The government wants to create a senior index. It would be a question of rating each company on its senior policy by taking several criteria: does it recruit people over 50? Does she train them? Does it arrange their working time at the end of their career? Does it facilitate the accumulation of employment/retirement?

An index to combat gender inequalities has existed since 2019, but the results are mixed. There is still on average nearly 16% difference in wages between men and women for an equivalent position. Admittedly, the index is recent and there was the Covid crisis, but companies lack transparency and do not always play the game. There have been calls to order but barely a dozen companies have been sanctioned in 2021.

The employment of seniors is not only an economic problem, it is also cultural. In France, a third of those over 61 are neither employed nor retired. They are unemployed, on RSA, on disability. If the government shifts the retirement age, and nothing is done, more people will switch or stay longer in precariousness.