Hiring bonus, voucher for low-income households, abolition of a production tax and " anti-bankruptcy shield ": economists charged with advising the Prime Minister on Friday unveiled a plan of nearly 50 billion euros to revive the French economy in the face of the crisis. " After reassuring during confinement, French economic policy must now help businesses and households to plan for the future, " warns this note from the Economic Analysis Council (CAE).
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Rescuing households and businesses
The note is co-signed by Philippe Martin, delegated president of the CAE, Jean Pisani-Ferry, professor at Sciences Po and close to Emmanuel Macron, and Xavier Ragot, president of the French Observatory of economic conjunctures (OFCE) and member of the CAE. The authors argue for a cocktail of measures aimed at households and businesses to boost consumption, production and investment, with the aim of " finding the level of activity at the end of 2019 by one year and absorbing the employment deficit by the end of 2021 ”, according to its designers.
In total, this plan provides for 24 billion euros in spending over eighteen months (excluding European aid) " to manage the economic and social emergency ", to which are added 24 billion measures aimed at " redirecting growth " , towards ecological transition, university, training and research, or even health. One of the emergencies being to fight against bankruptcies of companies in difficulty, the note proposes the rapid implementation of an “ anti-bankruptcy shield ” valued at 10 billion via, for example, a bailout of the equity of companies in difficulty.
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The priorities of unemployment and purchasing power
In addition, the authors recommend removing the C3S, a tax that weighs on businesses. To avoid a spike in unemployment, especially among young people, economists recommend paying a bonus on hiring or returning from partial unemployment of 200 euros per month (300 euros for those under 25) for low wages and limited over a period of one year. Still targeting young graduates, of whom several hundred thousand will arrive on a depressed job market, the note imagines a paid tutoring system for the benefit of students who dropped out during confinement.
The authors also defend the implementation of purchasing power measures, such as the doubling of the back-to-school allowance and new aid for students and precarious workers, as well as a " voucher " for households. modest to spend on " green " goods before 2021.