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French MPs vote to create special job contracts for over-60s

The employment of seniors in France 'is one of our weak points,' said Minister of Labour Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, pointing out that the employment rate for people over 60 here is 38 percent, compared to 61 percent in Germany and and 70 percent in Sweden. These numbers refer only to people in the job market, not those who have already retired. This level of underemployment is 'an injustice, a human waste and an economic waste that we can no longer accept or allow,' Panosyan-Bouvet said. The bill, which has already passed through the Senate, provides for the creation of work contract called a contrat de valorisation de l'expérience or CVE (contract for the promotion of experience). Advertisement It is intended to give employers greater flexibility in employing older workers, and make it easier to hire job-seekers aged over 60 – or even 57 in certain professions. The CVE contract would give the employee the same rights as a standard permanent contract (known as a CDI), but would require the employer to pay slightly lower social contributions - therefore making the over-60s more attractive to hire. It will be introduced on a five-year basis, and then extended if it is judged to be successful. Unemployment rates among older workers became a political hot topic during debates on pension reform - with opponents saying that forcing people to work until they are 64, not 62, in unfair when there is such a high unemployment rate for older workers. Ecologist MP Sophie Taillé-Polian criticised the 'contradictory government policy' of raising the retirement age to 64, 'without really addressing the precarious situation of seniors who are excluded from the labour market'. In the end, however, only the hard left La France Insoumise voted against the creation of the CVE. La France Insoumise said it would not participate in 're-enchanting the forced labour of our seniors,' said MP Ségolène Amiot. She accused the government of creating a smokescreen that hides a 'new gift to employers, a new exemption from contributions.'