A bad surprise for French people who would like to start as entrepreneurs. In the agreement reached on Friday 10 November on the new unemployment insurance contract for 2024, the social partners want “return more efficiently compensation for job seekers who establish or take over a company”. A desire that is materialized in their text with several moves by plane for entrepreneurs. If trade unions and employers’ organizations recognize that unemployment benefits and aid programs enable entrepreneurs to do this, “in the vast majority of cases”continuation of activities “sustainable” and so “permanent exit from unemployment”however, they point out that in certain situations these tools can cause “unintended effects for their users”.
Therefore, the social partners decided on several measures to reduce the risk. Let’s first remind that users who found or take over a company today can receive compensation from unemployment insurance in cumulating their compensation with their compensation resulting from their resumption of activity, or by requesting the payment of Support for the continuation and opening of business (ARCA), a system that financially supports job seekers who venture into entrepreneurship.
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Limited rights during unemployment and financial assistance
In case of accumulation of compensation during unemployment with income from entrepreneurial activity, associations of employers and employees initially offer payment duration limit jobseeker’s rights. This ceiling would fit 60% the user’s rights on the date of his Pôle emploi declaration as an entrepreneur. The total amount of rights, on the other hand, would not change i the remaining 40% may be paid as part of the re-payment of unemployment benefits to the recipient concerned. Please note that if the job seeker reaches the 60% limit, the social partners want to enable him to “request an examination of your situation from the regional joint body to which you belong in order to consider the possible continuation of payments, based on evidence of a complete lack of income received in relation to the independent activity that has been created or continued”.
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Employers and unions also intend to modify the terms of payment of ARCE. In this context, the user can currently receive, in the form of capital, the equivalent of 60% extras how much Pôle emploi should have paid him if he had remained unemployed for the entire statutory benefit period. The amount from which 3% of the contribution to finance the accumulated pension is deducted. This assistance is paid in two parts today: the first half at the time of establishment or takeover of the company, the second half six months after the start of activity as an entrepreneur, if the user is still performing the activity in question. To tighten the screw and limit abuses, employers’ and employees’ organizations want the second ARCE payment to be deleted “when it is established that the user has returned to a permanent full-time contract”. In other words, to continue receiving full ARCE, jobseekers would have to prove that they had not signed an open-ended contract on the day of the second payment.
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Ultimately, the social partners hope to achieve a total of 870 million euros in savings between 2024 and 2027. However, for these measures to see the light of day next year, the government will have to confirm the agreement reached by the social partners. At the time of writing, the executive authority has not yet made a decision.
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