Margaux Fodéré / Photo credit: Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 13:00 p.m., November 24, 2023

According to DARES, French people over the age of 55 spend an average of 713 days registered with Pôle Emploi. That's at least twice as many as all job seekers. In other words, for a senior, finding a job remains a real obstacle course.

TESTIMONY

They were at the heart of the discussions during the pension reform episode: this time seniors are back in the debates around unemployment insurance. On Thursday, the Minister of the Economy reaffirmed that he wanted to see the duration of benefits for unemployed people over 55 reduced and aligned with that of other unemployed people. Bruno Le Maire says he sees this as a lever to improve their situation on the labour market and achieve full employment. According to DARES figures for the third quarter of 2023, the number of French people over the age of 50 who are not in work has decreased by 6.5% in one year. Except that the reality is quite different.

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Lack of support

Just look at the average duration of unemployment: it is at least twice as high among French people over 55. 713 days in the third quarter of 2020, compared to an average of 312 days for all jobseekers. In other words, for a senior, finding a job is a real obstacle course. That's what Dominique, 60, is going through: she lost her job as an executive assistant two and a half years ago. "I've only had one interview in two and a half years. I have scheduled alerts every day, I look at what the positions are, I go to job fairs. Unfortunately, the clichés that stick to seniors, less adaptable, obsolete, fall more often, I think that these clichés have a hard tooth," she saddens.

To find out, Dominique broadened her search. But some of the job centres' proposals seem surprising to him: "I also receive offers for security guard-type training. I think that at 60 years old, as a woman who is 1.63m tall, it makes a lot of sense," she quips. For Benoit Serre, vice-president of ANDRH, the National Association of Human Resources Directors, this lack of support contributes to the long-term unemployment of seniors. "The reaction of Pôle Emploi is not fast enough. And so a senior who doesn't have a job for 8, 10, 12 months moves much faster than another from his ability to find another," he explains. To remedy this, the ANDRH is asking for a "One senior, one solution" plan based on the model of the "One Youth, One Solution" platform.