To avoid a rise in unemployment, Olivier Dussopt considers it necessary to “accelerate the implementation of the reforms undertaken”, including through increased checks on certain unemployed people, and is considering “act 2 of reform of the employment market”, in an interview with Les Échos published Friday. Asked about the measures he is considering in the short term to avoid a rise in unemployment, the Minister of Labor replies that “we must accelerate the implementation of the reforms undertaken” and recalls having brought “four to Parliament in one year” .
“For France travail (new name of Pôle emploi from January 1, Editor’s note) for example, we want to increase by 25% in the first half of 2024 the number of entries into short and operational training before employment for job seekers” , an “effective” system and which “we are going to simplify further”, he indicates in particular. He “also wants us to at least double the number of job search checks”. “There are 500,000 per year today. We can concentrate and strengthen them on job seekers who have completed qualifying training and would not have accepted a job corresponding to the outcome,” specifies the minister.
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“When public authorities, State and Region, finance training for professions in shortage or transition, without this training being imposed, it is normal to strengthen controls to ensure that once the training is provided, there is has an effective job search process,” argues Olivier Dussopt. In the longer term, beyond the transposition of a possible agreement between unions and employers on the employment of seniors, the Minister of Labor considers that it will be necessary to “launch (an) act 2 which will combine more training, more flexibility, more mobility, more anticipation and when we can simplify, it’s better.
If it is “too early to discuss specific measures, which moreover need to be concerted”, the minister considers that there is “a subject of simplification, including in particular the question of the time limit for legal challenge in the event of dismissal”. Arguing that France has “one of the longest waiting times in Europe” and that “this can slow down hiring”, he “wants sufficient time, but 12 months is too long”.
