The unemployed who have exhausted their rights to compensation will benefit from an additional 15-day respite to get through the Covid-19 crisis.
The government has decided "out of security" to extend the payment of their benefits, "in view of the situation of the unemployed at the end of their rights".
Élisabeth Borne's services urgently issued an order dated Saturday, January 30 and published this Sunday which extends this device until mid-February.
Emmanuel Macron's decision not to temporarily reconfine has indeed reshuffled the cards.
Piloting on sight given the health uncertainties
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The extension of rights had been triggered automatically and exceptionally during the last two confinements as part of the emergency measures.
“We had to anticipate.
The president said he was giving himself a few more days to confine or not.
Given these health uncertainties, there was no question that some would lose their rights in the event of re-containment.
While awaiting decisions, it was therefore logical not to make them take the risk of leaving this system at a time when potentially the labor market will slow down, ”indicates the Ministry of Labor.
Towards a more flexible system.
According to our information, the ministry is studying a more flexible system adapted to the uncertainties about the evolution of Covid-19 in order to avoid these trap effects for people at the end of their rights.
Clearly, to create a lasting safety net in times of health crisis and which can be triggered more easily in the event of repeated re-containment or deconfinement.
It should be the subject of an ordinance as part of the bill on health emergencies.
The extension of the unemployment benefit was first granted to the unemployed reaching the end of their rights to compensation during the first confinement.
“We thought we would only know one confinement,” explains an adviser.
It was finally put back in place during the second confinement, and with an additional three-month period from October 31 to January 31.
RSA requests will be canceled.
Concretely, as in previous times, the extension corresponds to the number of calendar days between the official date of exhaustion of rights and February 15.
Regarding job seekers who have received and already completed an RSA application form in January in anticipation of this end of rights on February 1, "Pôle emploi will not take this into account and will extend the rights" provide the services of Élisabeth Borne.
At the same time, the ministry has already taken the initiative for job seekers eligible for the income guarantee of 900 euros intended for the most precarious (especially many young people) for four months, by deciding to grant it until the end. March.
How many unemployed are affected?
According to a forecast by Unédic based on the first extension, the number of job seekers at the end of their rights to benefit from this boost would be 420,000 to 480,000. But the effects of the first part of the reform of Unemployment insurance which was put in place, and frozen since the end of the second confinement, have swelled their ranks.
And the new reform of unemployment insurance currently under discussion, and which tightens the conditions of compensation and the opening of rights, risks further increasing their number.
This is also one of the hard points put forward by the unions who ask the government to abandon its reform.
Once unemployment rights have been exhausted, a third of job seekers switch to RSA, another third to ASS and the last third find themselves with nothing.
