France News

French government wants more jobs for older people

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

French government wants more jobs for older people

The government of France has called for the number of older people in employment to be increased, and firms could get into trouble if they do not take on more staff aged 55 to 64.

However, another controversial proposal is for workers to work 41 years instead of 40, to be able to get a full state pension.

France has one of the lowest numbers of employees aged 55 to 64 in the European Union, but at the same time people are living longer in the country with average ages of life expectancy being 84.5 for women and 77.6 for men.

About 400,000 French people aged 57 or over that age are out of work and receiving unemployment benefit and the government wants to do something about getting more of them into the workforce.

In 2003, the government of France brought in plans that required employees to have had at least 40 years of working before getting a full state pension and that figure was to be increased to 42 years by 2020.

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