French authorities are crying foul over how unemployment insurance works for cross-border workers.
Under the current system, workers pay social insurance contributions in the country they work – and if they need to claim unemployment benefits, that’s paid by the country they live in.
This is working out very badly for France.
The organisation which administers unemployment insurance in France, Unédic, points out the number of unemployed cross border workers has increased by 50% since 2011. Two thirds of those had worked in Switzerland.
Former Swiss workers are a particular issue as payments are based on the previous salary, and therefore benefits are relatively generous. And they tend to stay unemployed for longer as they’re searching for work in Switzerland to maintain their standard of living.
In 2023 alone, France paid out EUR 803m to unemployed Frontaliers. Over the last 10 years, it’s over EUR 11bn.
Unédic says the situation has become ‘unbearable’.
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