An expert in employment and pensions, the general director of contributable Associés, Benoît Perrin, has indicated that to improve employability in France, it would be necessary to increase retirement age. In this way, the Employment rate of older people who want to return to the labor market or support companies in the event that they want to keep older people with more experience, which is known as ‘senior talent’.
According to the leader of this entity, the secret is not in distributing wealth, but that the production capacity is extended nationwide. As he said in an interview in CNEWS, “the question is how to grow the cake” so “we would have to invest in professional training and new technologies.” But, in addition, “it is necessary to increase the age of the people (with a rise in the retirement age) that are active in the labor market because one of the problems we have in France is that one does not work enough.”
Improve youth employment and reform pensions
During his speech in the program he identified two problematic aspects. On the one hand, the aid to insertion in the labor market of young people enhancing new training systems, something that is “common sense” but “usually generates rejection when a greater adaptation between the training and demand of the labor market is proposed.”
Then, he considered as essential the need to increase working life, since “it is the only way” to improve the employment rate among older people. “One of the options would be to delay retirement age,” he said. “These two issues are very controversial (explosives) but you have to treat them.”
In the end, he notified all member countries of the European Union. Analyzing unemployment data, in France they remain below the European average. “This should be incentive for the political leaders to act.”
In addition, he insisted on the need for “a structural change that gives life to the labor market and improves competitiveness.”