Before a national assembly that returned on Monday, the government defended a bill for a new reform of unemployment insurance. It first plans to expand existing rules before building on them “Tighter when too many jobs are unfilled and more lenient when unemployment is high”. A most applicable modification “Europe’s Most Generous”, In the words of Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt. But is this really so? According to A OECD indicator
, after a year of unemployment, France ranked eighth in the ranking of the most profitable European countries in 2021, well behind the champions of the ranking, Belgium. If one were to gain a few places (5th) when one is interested in the period beyond the second year of unemployment, France would remain behind the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Denmark.

Spain and Italy guarantee better access conditions

Looking at minimum affiliation conditions, France is a top student at the European level. From 2019, jobseekers will receive compensation if they can prove they have worked for six months in the last two years. This is worse than Italy, which guaranteed access to the right from 13 weeks of contribution for the past four years, and Spain, where 360 ​​days of work for the past six years sufficed. But France continues to fare better than Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland.

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Denmark, the compensation champion with 90% of the reference salary

In terms of compensation, France is at the bottom of the ranking, where jobseekers receive 57% of the daily reference wage. France is behind 90% of the reference salary, Luxembourg (80% of the total reference salary), Switzerland (70 or 80 depending on the family situation or the reference salary), Italy (75), and the most generous country, Denmark. in the first six months) the Netherlands (75% in the first two months then 70%) Portugal (65% plus 10% in some cases), Spain (70% of the reference salary in the first 180 days then 50%), Germany (60% of the total reference salary depending on the family situation or 67%), Norway (62.4%).

The most profitable country in this regard is undoubtedly Ireland, where compensation is calculated according to a lump sum which varies according to family circumstances. It varies from 93.30 to 208 euros per week, although this amount can be combined with other assistance.

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In Belgium, unlimited period of compensation

The compensation period, which extends to 36 months for French people over 55, places the country among the best students in the region. For under-53s, its 24-month ratio is roughly the same as Germany (6 to 24 months), Denmark (maximum 2 years) and Spain (around 2 years).

But France is much shorter than Belgium, where the duration of compensation is unlimited. After 48 months, the Belgian jobseeker receives a type of allowance, a flat-rate allowance for an in principle unlimited period.

France, the champion of maximum allocation

In order to find a benchmark for where France is at the top of the basket, it is necessary to focus on the maximum amount of compensation. In France, an unemployed person can receive up to 7,816.72 euros. This is significantly higher than second place in the category, in Luxembourg, where the amount is set at 5,782 euros for the first six months, almost double that of Germany (about 3,020 euros in the old Lander). But in June 2016, only 500 people received this maximum allowance, or 0.02% of recipients, according to Unedic.