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Right to unemployment: how do European countries compensate their job seekers?
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his desire to launch a new reform of unemployment insurance to “
further encourage people to return to work
”, with the aim of making substantial savings. The opportunity to compare the French unemployment insurance system with that of its European neighbors.
A job seeker enters a Pôle Emploi agency in Marseille (illustrative image). AP - Claude Paris
By: Pierre Fesnien Follow
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Just as the latest unemployment insurance reform is about to come into force, Prime Minister
Gabriel Attal announces a new one
with a reduction in the duration of compensation which could go from 18 to 12 months. For this new reform desired by
Gabriel Attal,
“
one of the avenues is to reduce this duration of compensation by several months
” but “
I do not think that it should go below twelve months
”, declared Wednesday Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on TF1. In its sights, the government finds itself facing an urgent need to make savings while the budget deficit has skidded to 5.5% of GDP in 2023.
“
We maintain the longest compensation period among developed countries: 18 months. The responsibility of the social partners is the employees. The responsibility of the State is all those who are unemployed. For my part, I consider that the State should regain control of unemployment insurance definitively
,” declared the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire on March 18. A barely veiled way of implying that France has one of the most generous unemployment compensation systems in Europe, which is however far from being so simple.
Read alsoUnemployment insurance: “Even if we make people precarious, that will not put them back into employment”
France is in any case far
from having the longest compensation period in Europe
. Except for unemployed people over 55 who receive compensation for up to 27 months, the maximum duration of compensation is now 18 months in France. This is more than in Germany, where it is twelve months, or in the United Kingdom where it is six months, but it is also less than Denmark, Italy or Spain where the duration of compensation can be up to 24 months. Belgium takes the prize with a theoretically almost unlimited duration of compensation since after the payment of decreasing compensation for 48 months, the job seeker receives a lump sum compensation of 1,355 euros per month.
In France, a fairly low but non-degressive compensation rate
France is also far from being the country that best compensates its job seekers, but it nevertheless guarantees them stable income throughout their period of unemployment, because this rate is non-decreasing. French unemployment insurance provides each of its beneficiaries with 57% of their daily reference salary, which is significantly lower than what is practiced in Denmark with a rate of 90%, in Luxembourg with 80% of the gross reference salary, in Switzerland with 70 or 80% or in the Netherlands with 75%, but also in Germany which guarantees its job seekers 60 to 67% of their reference income depending on their family situation.
Other countries, however, have chosen to compensate their job seekers on a decreasing basis. An avenue that Prime Minister Gabriel Attal claimed to have studied without favoring it in his future reform. Italy, for example, compensates its job seekers at 75% for six months before this rate is gradually reduced by three points every month that follows. Spain compensates the unemployed at 70% for the first 180 days of unemployment before increasing this rate to 60%. Belgium has also opted for decreasing compensation which starts at 65% for the first three months of unemployment before gradually decreasing depending on the family and personal situation of each job seeker.
Read alsoFrance: Gabriel Attal wants a new reform of unemployment insurance
Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom and Ireland stand out clearly from their European neighbors. In these countries, unemployment compensation is not set according to the reference salary but by a flat-rate system. In Finland and Sweden, unemployed people receive 1,110 and 1,009 euros per month respectively. In Ireland, unemployment benefit can reach a maximum of 880 euros when it will not exceed 380 euros per month in the
United Kingdom
, which is undoubtedly the least generous country in Europe with its job seekers.
Very variable conditions of access to unemployment insurance
However, the conditions for access to compensation vary greatly from one country to another. Italy certainly has the least restrictive conditions for obtaining compensation, as you only need to have worked three months out of the last 48 months to unlock rights. On the other hand, to obtain one month of compensation, you must have worked two months. In France, you must have worked six months out of the last 24 months to unlock six months of compensation, which makes it a system easier to access than that of the Netherlands where you must have worked six months out of nine to obtain compensation.
Most other European countries have for their part set the bar higher by requiring twelve months of employment to unlock rights. This is the case of Belgium (12 months of work over the last 21 months), Portugal and Switzerland (12 months of work over the last 24 months), Germany (12 months of work over the last 30 months). ) and Spain (12 months worked out of the last 72 months).
Three other countries have opted for access to unemployment insurance conditional on obtaining a minimum income to be achieved. To qualify for unemployment insurance in Norway, for example, you must have received at least the equivalent of 15,049 euros over the last 12 months. In the United Kingdom, the threshold is set at 7,011 euros to be reached over the last 24 months. Denmark, which compensates its job seekers very well, has nevertheless set a much higher salary level. To be entitled to unemployment compensation, Danes must have earned at least 33,062 euros in salary over a reference period of 36 months.
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