FranceFrance is planning to toughen unemployment rules by restricting the period when jobless citizens receive welfare payments, prime minister Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.
Outlining the government's plans to further reform the job market, Attal told TF1 television: "One of the options is to reduce the duration of payments. I think it should not go below 12 months."
An unemployed worker aged 53 or less currently receives up to 18 months of benefits plus six months if jobs are scarce. The duration extends to 22-1/2 months plus 7-1/2 months for workers aged 53-54, and 27 months plus nine months for those over the age of 55.
President Emmanuel Macron's government says previous efforts to rein in unemployment benefits did not go far enough and that a new push is necessary to get more people back in jobs and reduce an excessive state budget deficit.
