On November 21, the government detailed its unemployment insurance reform, which attacks the duration of benefits. Employees on short contracts, subject to grueling working conditions, risk suffering real negative consequences, a collective of social science researchers warns.

As the government announces a new reduction in the unemployed’s right to a replacement income, we, social science researchers, want to make public opinion, employment professionals and our fellow citizens aware of the consequences of these changes for temporary workers’ health.

The 2021 reform had largely broken the rights to social security for the most insecure: the rights that are opened up by periods of activity result in a distribution over a longer period and thus a lower income level. Employees on short-term contracts, especially temporary workers, have particularly suffered from the negative effects of this reform, as the break periods, which are also fragmented, are then covered by an increasingly reduced income.

The new law attacks the duration of compensation, insecure employees will see the duration of their compensation reduced if the government deems the “economic situation” to be good. Refusal of permanent contracts (even uncertain permanent contracts such as construction contracts or temporary contracts of indefinite duration) and presumed prolonged absence will constitute a presumption of resignation and thus prevent access to unemployment insurance. Through these two devices, the government and its allies mobilize the myth again