Unemployment benefits will be revalued by 0.4% on July 1, Unédic said in a statement after a board meeting held on Tuesday. This revaluation, which follows an increase already limited to 0.7% in 2019, concerns 92% of job seekers receiving unemployment insurance benefits on July 1, i.e. around three million people.
During the vote, the unions abstained from expressing their disagreement with this revaluation proposed by the employers to the level of inflation expected in 2020.
In a press release, the CFDT said it had proposed "an increase of + 1.2% in allowances, with regard to the revaluation of the minimum wage (+ 1.2%), social minima (+ 0.9%), but also the evolution of prices, which increased sharply during containment and particularly impacted the purchasing power of those who lost their jobs ”.
The union recalls that "50% of beneficiaries receive less than 860 euros net per month and almost a third of them are under 30 years". The CGT, which for its part had proposed a fixed revaluation of 10 euros per day, judged that the employers were "an active accomplice in the rolling of rights".
Unemployment insurance reform still on track
"The government still refuses to cancel its 2019 unemployment insurance reform made even more violent by the crisis," said the union. The government must announce by the end of July how it is modifying the different parameters of its reform in the light of the crisis, but does not envisage outright cancellation as demanded by the unions. With this revaluation, the minimum allocation thus increases to 29.38 euros per day, against 29.26 euros currently.
The fixed part of the allowance increases to 12.05 euros per day compensated against 12 euros currently. It is added to the proportional part of the allowance which is equivalent to 40.4% of the old salary (the daily reference salary). The increase in daily reference wages concerns only recipients who have been receiving compensation for more than six months, or around 2.4 million people. For around 470,000 beneficiaries, only the revaluation of the fixed part applies. The cost for the second half of 2020 and the year 2021 will be 130 million euros for Unédic.
