In its annual report which appears this Thursday, Secours Catholique draws an inventory of poverty in France, through the prism of the people it welcomes (nearly a million in 2021).
The association notes an increase in the share of long-term unemployed people among its beneficiaries in 2021 compared to 2020 (+ 5,000).
For those who no longer receive unemployment benefit, daily life is even more like an obstacle course.
They are unemployed and their financial situation is increasingly difficult.
In its annual report on the state of poverty in France, which appears this Thursday, Secours Catholique highlights the worrying situation of the long-term unemployed, that is to say those who have been looking for a job for more than a year.
In France, nearly 2.5 million people registered with Pôle emploi were in this case in the third quarter of 2022, according to data published at the end of October by the Ministry of Labor.
An underestimated figure according to Jean-Christophe Sarrot, head of the Employment-Training department of ATD Fourth World: "We can multiply it by two, because many long-term unemployed people are no longer registered with Pôle emploi and disappear from speed cameras.
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Secours Catholique notes an increase in the proportion of long-term unemployed people among its beneficiaries in 2021 compared to 2020 (+ 5,000).
They now represent 60% of the unemployed people supported by the association.
An increase which is explained in particular by the effects of the Covid-19 crisis: “During the health crisis and immediately after, the companies most in difficulty first tried to maintain their jobs on permanent contracts.
Conversely, many employees on fixed-term and temporary contracts have lost their jobs,” explains Jean Merckaert, action and advocacy director of Secours Catholique.
Lower unemployment benefits
The association also points out that in ten years, the length of unemployment service for people received by Secours Catholique has gone from 1.6 years to 2.6 years.
However, the longer unemployment lasts, the greater the risk of a loss of employability.
"And the longer the duration of unemployment, the more the precariousness of the person and that of his family increases", underlines Jean Merckaert.
Even when receiving unemployment benefit, many long-term unemployed have become impoverished in recent years.
Jean-Christophe Sarrot gives an explanation: “The various unemployment insurance reforms in recent years have all gone in the same direction: the unraveling of rights for the unemployed and the tightening of the conditions for being compensated”.
An effect that Jean Merckaert was also able to observe: “The change in the method of calculating unemployment benefits had the effect of lowering the amount of benefits and reducing the duration of compensation.
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Constrained spending weighs heavier
Another cause: the increasingly heavy burden of constrained expenses (rent, energy, insurance, telephone, etc.).
According to Secours Catholique, these expenses absorb on average nearly 60% of the income of households in precarious situations, compared to 30% for the entire population living in France.
“Half of the households we help have enough to live on of less than 5 euros per day and per person.
However, we consider that a minimum of 7 euros per day is needed for food”, emphasizes Jean Merckaert.
The association's concern is all the greater as the inflation shock has not yet produced its full effects.
The situation is even worse for the long-term unemployed who no longer receive unemployment benefit.
The duration of unemployment insurance benefits cannot exceed two years for those under 53, two and a half years for those aged 53 or 54, and three years for those aged 55 or over.
So that “in France, only 40% of the unemployed receive an allowance.
A large proportion of the long-term unemployed have exhausted their rights,” says Jean-Christophe Sarrot.
Most of these people receive the RSA (ie 598.54 euros for a single person) or the specific solidarity allowance (536.95 euros per month paid for 6 months).
Income that just allows you to survive.
Ways to better support them
Moreover, some do not even receive the social minima.
In 2021, between 29% and 40% of households received by Secours Catholique did not receive the RSA, even though they were entitled to it.
"This non-recourse is explained by the cumbersome administrative procedures which discourage some people", explains Jean Merckaert.
To get these long-term job seekers out of the doldrums, there are however solutions.
“It is necessary to develop territories with zero long-term unemployment.
Because they allow these people to reintegrate through a quality job,
even if their
remuneration does not exceed the minimum wage.
There will be 60 in 2023,” explains Jean-Christophe Sarrot.
Jean Merckaert also believes that it is necessary to “improve the support for these people, in particular by offering them training”.
An approach already initiated by Pole emploi: it trained 200,000 long-term job seekers in 2021, and will continue in 2022.
Secours Catholique also believes that the government must initiate a determined policy against the non-use of social minima.
The government plans to launch "early 2023 experiments" to test the automatic payment of social benefits.
A first step.
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