Paris (AFP)
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire warned Tuesday that "hundreds of thousands" of people will lose their jobs in the coming months in France, saying he is open to "new solutions" such as the creation of targeted "checks" to help the most struggling households.
"We have before us a wave of bankruptcies, a wave of difficulties on the employment front very violent. We are preparing for it and we want to face it by finding new solutions", assured the Minister of Economy on RTL Tuesday evening.
While the government must present Wednesday to the Council of Ministers the third part of the amending finance bill to deal with the crisis, Mr. Le Maire said that 45 billion euros would be put on the table to try to preserve the maximum employment despite the coming severe recession.
"We are at just over 8% unemployment and I'm talking to you about hundreds of thousands more unemployed, this is without doubt the most realistic prospect today," acknowledged Le Maire.
"We are going to be led to take original, singular measures" to "preserve employment at any cost in France", he added.
He spoke of "partial activity arrangements which make employees stay in the company rather than leave the company". "We can also consider that employees move from one company to another," he said.
While repeating his hostility to an increase in taxation to finance the crisis, he declared himself "open to ideas of + checks + which allow to support those who are really the most in difficulty".
"We can consider checks, which can be green checks for the people who are most in trouble to boost demand," he said.
The minister also said he was interested in ideas put forward recently by three economists from a think-tank set up by the Elysée Palace who propose that the state subsidize the wages of workers in the most affected sectors.
"It is an idea which is entirely conceivable" he judged.
© 2020 AFP