Even at the end of a career, the risks of experiencing periods of unemployment are unfortunately not uncommon. According to INSEE, 5.4% of working people aged 55 to 59, nearly 7% of those aged 60-64, are unemployed. These age groups represent 12% of all the unemployed. What happens to the over 50s who become unemployed? What are their rights? What are their unemployment benefits?
If people at the end of their career, that is to say generally working people over 50, are less likely than the youngest to be unemployed, the fact remains that 12% of the unemployed belong to this class. of age. For them, finding a job is much more complicated and is most often an obstacle course.
This is why the public authorities provide for workers at the end of their careers who experience a period of unemployment (and who have not reached the legal retirement age) specific unemployment benefit rules in terms of duration and amount, but also concerning the conditions of affiliation to Pôle emploi.
As an unemployed senior, you can register with Pôle Emploi, like unemployed people of all ages, if you nevertheless undertake to take all the steps to actively seek employment.
Like all unemployed people, as a job seeker at the end of your career, you must fulfill conditions concerning your minimum previous working time, what is called the minimum duration of affiliation required under unemployment insurance. , to open up your rights to compensation:you must have worked, under one or more jobs, at least 88 days, i.e. 610 hours or approximately 4 months, during a determined period, which is called the period affiliate search.
This affiliation search period is set at 24 months for unemployed persons under 53 years of age. Beyond this age, so for workers at the end of their careers who find themselves unemployed, this reference period is extended:to open up your rights to compensation, Pôle Emploi searches whether you have worked well for 4 months going back not 24 months back, but 36 months, or 3 years.
Note:if during this reference period you were in training, the training days are also taken into account, but not in full.
As regards the duration of unemployment benefit, the basic rule, which applies to all unemployed workers, is that unemployment benefit cannot be paid for less than 182 days (i.e. 6 months) and especially beyond 730 days, i.e. 2 years.
However, a person aged 53 and over who is unemployed at the end of their career benefits from more favorable measures. Her duration of unemployment benefit is thus increased to 913 days (2 years and 6 months) if she is aged 53 or 54 on the date of the end of her employment contract, with the possibility under certain conditions of extending this duration of 6 additional months.
Job seekers aged 55 and over have a longer unemployment benefit period:1,095 days, or 3 years.
Unemployed persons aged 62 or over can continue to be compensated beyond the maximum legal duration provided they meet certain conditions:
If you were employed in the private sector and are job seeker at the end of your career, you can receive unemployment benefit for return to work assistance (ARE) if you meet the required conditions, in particular the duration of affiliation to unemployment insurance.
The ARE concerns people who find themselves unemployed after a dismissal for personal or economic reasons, after a contractual termination, the non-renewal of a fixed-term contract, or a resignation considered legitimate.
The gross daily amount of the ARE includes a fixed part equal to €12.12 and a variable part which corresponds to 40.4% of your daily reference salary (SJR). After age 53, the SJR corresponds to the total gross remuneration that you received during the 3 years preceding the end of your last employment contract, divided by the total number of days between the 1st day of your first employment contract and the last day of the last contract during this 3-year period. The ARE cannot be lower than 57%, and higher than 75%, of this daily reference salary.
In principle, the ARE is an allowance whose amount decreases after a few months of unemployment if its amount is greater than a previous gross monthly salary of an average of €4,500:a reduction of 30% is thus applied from the 7th month of payment. But, be aware that this measure does not apply to job seekers aged 57 and over.
Please note:if you have reached the legal minimum retirement age and you meet the quarter or age conditions giving you the right to full retirement, you cannot receive the ARE if you are at unemployment.
On the other hand, unlike all unemployed people, those over 50 have the possibility of choosing to receive the specific solidarity allowance (ASS) rather than the ARE if the ASS is more favorable to them.
Job seekers at the end of their career, and more specifically those who have acquired rights to receive a retirement pension without being able to benefit from a full pension, have the possibility of combining their retirement pension with unemployment benefit.
In this case, the amount of the retirement pension is deducted from that of the unemployment benefit, in a different way according to age:
