Employment is traditionally an important campaign issue during the presidential election.
For this election, it seems overshadowed by other concerns, such as purchasing power or the war in Ukraine.
Despite everything, he remains omnipresent in Emmanuel Macron's program, which aims for full employment by 2027 if he is re-elected.
That of Marine Le Pen, on the other hand, is less provided on the subject.
“
The two candidates have a different conception of the labor market
,” notes Emmanuel Jessua, director of studies at the Rexecode Institute.
“
Marine Le Pen has an accounting, static vision of it, whereas she is more dynamic with Emmanuel Macron.
RSA, national priority...
Le Figaro
takes stock of the proposals of the two finalists in the presidential election.
To discover
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Read alsoEmmanuel Macron-Marine Le Pen: the match of economic projects
Conditional RSA, “France Travail” and unemployment insurance at Macron
During the major press conference presenting his program in mid-March, Emmanuel Macron cited the word work no less than 62 times during his hour and a half of introductory remarks.
A sign of the importance of this theme, dear to Emmanuel Macron.
And its weight in the program of the president-candidate.
To achieve his goal of full employment by the end of the next five-year term, i.e. an unemployment rate of around 5% of the active population (compared to 7.4% today), Emmanuel Macron is proposing a series of measures .
Among them, the conditioning of the payment of the RSA (active solidarity income) to 15 to 20 hours of weekly activity “
allowing to go towards professional integration”
.
A reform project that caused an outcry, and forced the government to clarify its contours.
These hours of activity will not be "
work of general interest
", explained the Minister of Labor Élisabeth Borne in
L'Obs
,
“, which will be adapted to the situation of each (disability, children, addictions…).
Read alsoRSA: Macron relaunches the debate on welfare
Emmanuel Macron also announced that he wanted to transform Pôle emploi into “France Travail”.
It would be a question of creating a kind of
“one-stop shop”
towards work, by pooling
“all the know-how and skills, those of Pôle emploi, those of our regions, our departments, the municipalities, the missions local”.
A titanic project, the contours of which are not stopped.
Read alsoWhat could the “
France Travail
” wanted by Emmanuel Macron look like?
Another flagship measure of the president-candidate on employment, which has gone a little under the radar, is the change in the rules for unemployment compensation.
Emmanuel Macron wants to make it depend on the economic situation: "
stricter unemployment insurance when too many jobs are unfilled, more generous when unemployment is high
", indicates his program.
Emmanuel Jessua, from the Rexecode institute for economic studies, sums up the outgoing president's ambition: "
to encourage people to return to work and work longer
", this last objective also involves raising the retirement age retired.
Read also Pensions: what do the two presidential finalists Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen offer?
National priority and integration of young people at Le Pen
At Marine Le Pen, no entry in the program is specifically devoted to employment.
"
We don't find much that directly concerns the labor market
," confirms Emmanuel Jessua.
"
There is a belief in her that the problem of unemployment can be solved by practices of exclusion from the labor market of certain categories: the oldest and foreigners
", he explains, referring to two measures of his program.
The first, on pensions, is to advance the retirement age to 60 for people who started working before the age of 20 and who have 40 annual contributions.
The second is the “
national priority
” for employment, a historical marker of the National Rally (RN).
“
With equal skills, there will be priority given to French workers over foreign workers
,” explained Marine Le Pen on France 2 in early March.
A principle that it wishes to enshrine in the Constitution via a revision by referendum.
In the same vein, the far-right candidate wants to send foreigners back after a year of unemployment.
Read alsoCan we assign “priority to French workers” over foreigners?
In addition, another Marine Le Pen measure can be linked to the employment component.
To promote the integration of young people, the MP for Pas-de-Calais proposes the creation of a monthly “
training voucher
”, which would be paid to apprentices and work-study trainees as well as to their company, in equal shares.
"
It will not only reward training companies for their contribution to the national training effort, but also increase the remuneration of all French apprentices and work-study students by almost 30%
", says Marine Le Pen's program. .
For apprentices and work-study students, it would represent 230 euros more per month for young people under 18, and 330 euros more for 18-30 year olds.
And a few other measures...
To
"better organize working time throughout life
", Emmanuel Macron plans to generalize the "
time savings account
" (CET), this existing device which allows you to accumulate days off or RTT, by making it
“portable, monetizable and universal”.
Parents of children under three will also be guaranteed "
an accessible childcare solution
", promises the president-candidate (LREM), so as to "
be able to reconcile family life and professional life
".
A measure that targets single-parent families in particular.
For retirees, the president-candidate (LREM) wants to make combining employment and retirement “
simpler and more advantageous
”.
For her part, Marine Le Pen wants to put an end to posted work, "
which is actually a disguised relocation
" according to the candidate, presidential finalist for the second time in a row.