Unemployment benefits will be increased by 0.5% on July 1, which unions say is "insufficient"

"Far too low" for the CGT, "insufficient" for the CFDT. The announcement this Wednesday, June 25, by Unédic of a 0.5% increase in unemployment benefits as of July 1 was not exactly enthusiastically received by the unions.

This decision, which "takes into account both the current economic situation and the need to preserve the financial balance of the system," according to the body jointly managed by trade unions and employers' organizations in a press release, was taken at a board meeting and voted "by a majority of votes."

And this "despite the united front of the unions demanding at least an increase in line with inflation," the CGT union protested in a press release. "While inflation in 2024 was 2 %, employers are imposing a new austerity cure: benefits are only being increased by 0.5 %, under the pretext of the economic context, the state of Unédic's finances, degraded in particular by state levies... and by the reduction in employer contributions since May 1, 2025," the union added.

According to Unédic, the increase would affect "2.1 million beneficiaries." The minimum benefit thus increases from €31.97 per day to €32.13. "For the unemployment insurance scheme, the amount of the increase expenditure would amount to €58 million for 2025 and €81 million for 2026," the press release adds.

In its latest financial forecasts in mid-June, Unédic indicated that it was forecasting a deficit of 300 million euros in 2025 and pointed to a "paralyzed" debt reduction with 59.8 billion euros of debt expected in 2025.

In France, employees are insured against unemployment. But not all job seekers receive unemployment benefits, far from it—some because they haven't worked long enough. At the beginning of 2024, 40% of job seekers registered with France Travail were receiving benefits.