The senatorial right wants to promote the employment of seniors. To do this, the Senate, where the right is in the majority, voted Monday to create a new type of open-ended contract of "end of career" to promote the recruitment of employees aged at least 60 years. The senators adopted by 202 votes to 123 an amendment, against the advice of the government and despite the opposition of the left. It is supported by LR rapporteurs René-Paul Savary and Elisabeth Doineau (centrist) to the pension reform project, one of the main measures of which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.

With this new "senior permanent contract", the employer would be exempt from family contributions. It could terminate the contract by retiring the employee who meets the conditions to benefit from a full pension. He would therefore not be required to keep it until he is 70 years old, which today represents "a brake on the hiring of seniors", according to the rapporteurs. "The current tools for employing seniors are not enough," said René-Paul Savary.

The France is below the European average for the employment of 55-64 year olds (56% against 60.5%). The rapporteur specified that the amendment had been drafted "on the proposal of a number of social partners", who would be responsible for defining the implementing rules, branch by branch.

'Unfavourable opinion'

The Minister of Labour Olivier Dussopt gave an "unfavorable" opinion to this new CDI. In particular, he questioned his "targeting". "I fear a windfall effect that leads our family branch into the red," said Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal. "100,000 permanent contracts" are signed each year for employees over 60, he said. If all were signed with the new contract, the cost is estimated at "800 million euros for the family branch". And could even reach up to "2.2 billion euros" in case of deadweight effect.

The leader of the senators Les Républicains Bruno Retailleau "formally contested" the cost advanced by the government, stressing that this amendment "reveals one of the biggest issues of this reform". "What would be the point of raising the legal retirement age if nothing is done about the employment of seniors?" he asked. "This is a direct command of the Medef," denounced the socialist Yan Chantrel on the left. "We do not understand why we are always obliged to give gifts to companies so that they recruit people," said Monique Lubin (PS).



On the night of Sunday to Monday, the Senate had approved the creation proposed by the government of a "senior index" in companies, on the place of the oldest, but only for those with more than 300 employees.

  • Pension reform 2023
  • Cdi
  • Senior
  • Employment
  • Senate