Reforming pensions… But how to ensure that seniors remain active and do not find themselves unemployed or in long illness? The executive has already planned a number of measures to improve the employment of seniors, in particular the establishment of an “index”, which will make it possible to distinguish between good and bad students. An idea that leaves unions skeptical and directs employers. But the government could go further in the constraint. In any case, this was suggested by Gabriel Attal, the Minister of Public Accounts, and Olivier Véran, government spokesman. For Eric Heyer, an economist at the OFCE, these coercive measures “risk on the contrary penalizing seniors”.
L’Express: Last weekend, the executive opened the door to more “coercive” measures to promote the employment of seniors. Should he actually go further?
Eric Heyer: In the labor market, age measures are never a good idea, and it does not matter whether they are intended to stimulate or penalize certain behaviors. Take for example the idea of reductions in contributions for seniors: these would certainly have a positive impact on their employment rate, but they would have a negative effect on people who are just below the age limit. . As for the coercive measures, they risk on the contrary to penalize the seniors, we saw it well with the contribution Delalande (a tax which had to pay the companies which laid off employees of more than 50 years, removed in 2008, editor’s note). Because of this measure, companies no longer wanted to hire them.
Shouldn’t we all the same make thesenior index more coercive and provide for a fine if there is no improvement in the indicators?
No not necessarily. For the moment, the government has provided for a fine only if the index is not published and this obligation seems sufficient to me. This measure will not completely solve the problem of senior employment, but it can still have a positive impact. Today, people who respond to a job offer no longer only look at the salary, but they are also interested in working conditions, parity, company behavior, etc. If the indicators are good, the senior index could become an element of attractiveness for companies. All the more so in a context of recruitment difficulties.
If the index is not sufficient and the incentive or coercive measures are counter-productive, what should be done to improve the employment of seniors?
Today, companies no longer want to employ seniors, because they represent too high a cost in relation to their productivity, and employees are happy to be able to obtain a conventional break, because they are worn out, tired or demotivated. . It is therefore necessary to play on both labor supply and demand. On the company side, either we stop automatically increasing wages with seniority, or we try to ensure that the decline in productivity no longer exists, thanks to training.
And on the side of employees, the answer also lies in training, so that they can be fulfilled in their work, or even experience a second career, especially if they have to work for 43 or 44 years… But let’s not wait until they are seniors to train them: it must be done well before. It would also be necessary to review the “French-style” management, which is too rigid and vertical, so that employees remain fulfilled in their work until retirement age and remain productive. As far as the State is concerned, its role is to sort through the training offer, in order to ensure the quality of what is offered. Finally, to improve the employment of seniors, the overall employment rate must be improved. The government has certainly posted a goal of full employment, and wants to encourage the unemployed to get back to work, but it will probably take other more concrete measures to achieve it.
