Unemployment insurance reform: what measures apply from 1 December?

Noting completion on 1^er October 2021 of the two conditions to which these measures were subject, the degressivity of unemployment benefit from 7^e months for the highest incomes and the new conditions of eligibility for unemployment insurance enter into force on 1^er December 2021.

The end of the application of the transitional provisions provided for by the decree of 14 April 2020 is set at 1^er December 2021. This is indicated in the Order of November 18, 2021, published in the Official Journal of 20 November 2021.

Degressivity of the allowance for high incomes

The following two conditions, indicating a lasting improvement in the employment situation, were met at 1^er october 2021:

• the total number of pre-employment declarations (PEDs) for contracts of more than one month outside the acting period was to exceed a threshold (set at 2,700,000) over a period of 4 consecutive months;
• the number of job seekers in category A was expected to have decreased by at least 130,000 in the last 6 months.

Thus, from 1^er december 2021, the degressivity of the unemployment benefit for the highest earners takes place from 7^e month.

This measure will apply to persons whose employment contract ends on or after 1^er December 2021, with the exception of those whose dismissal proceedings were initiated before that date.

The degressivity will take place at the earliest from June 2022 for those who have opened their right to unemployment on 1^er December 2021.

Conditions for eligibility for unemployment insurance

From 1^er December 2021, the conditions for entitlement to unemployment are changing. In order to be eligible for unemployment insurance, one must have worked for six months in the last 24 months.

This condition shall apply to persons deprived of employment whose employment contract has ended as from 1^er December 2021.

For persons whose dismissal procedure was initiated before 1^er December 2021, the current conditions apply: you must have worked 4 months in the last 24 months to receive the Return to Employment Benefit (RWA).