France: Villepin's Plans To Keep Older People At Work
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2006-09-19 14:03:00-04:00
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. This seems to be the French Prime Minister’s mantra. After facing harsh criticism, plummeting popularity ratings and calls to resign upon the failure of his proposed youth labor contracts earlier this year, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin continues his efforts to reform the French economy—this time around focusing on the other end of the age spectrum. In early June 2006, Villepin announced a new comprehensive employment program aimed at keeping older workers employed.
The four-year initiative (2006-2010), which translates as “The National Plan of Collective Action for the Employment of Seniors,” has five main objectives consisting of 31 concrete measures with the ultimate goal of increasing the employment rate of people age 55-64 from the current 38 percent to 50 percent by 2010. One key measure of the plan enables companies to offer unemployed people over age 57 special fixed-term contacts. These 18-month contracts, which can be renewed once, will give companies more flexibility and incentive to hire older workers. Another important measure abolishes a tax on companies for firing workers over age 50. The tax actually penalizes older workers by discouraging companies to hire them in the first place. The plan also prohibits companies from implementing a mandatory retirement age of 65.
Unlike the youth labor plan, which resulted in several weeks of nationwide street protests by students and unions, Villepin’s older workers employment plan has received backing from France’s labor unions and Medef, the largest organization of employers in France. After securing broad backing for this latest initiative, Villepin explains “The national plan for employment of older people is the outcome of remarkable consultation work…This shows that France can be modernized in unity and serenity.” Villepin will soon present the reform to Parliament and predicts it will be easily voted into law.
For more information, visit the Government Portal of the Prime Minister: http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/en/
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