Overview
- In 2024, about 515,000 individually negotiated contract terminations generated roughly €9.4 billion in unemployment payments, or 26% of total allocations, according to Unédic.
- Unédic models lengthening the specific waiting-period cap from 150 to 180 days or scrapping the cap, estimating second‑year savings of €25 million and €200 million respectively.
- The report also considers counting statutory severance in the waiting‑period calculation, with combined measures potentially reaching €440 million in second‑year savings.
- Labor minister Jean‑Pierre Farandou has been meeting unions and employers to relaunch negotiations, with talks potentially replacing a broader unemployment‑insurance bargaining process previously slated by mid‑November.
- Unions including the CGT and FO reject any cut to unemployment rights, while lawmakers have already approved at first reading a hike in employer levies on rupture‑conventionnelle payouts to make the mechanism less attractive.