In a written question addressed to the Minister of Labor, Claire Guion-Firmin asked to extend once again the duration of the partial unemployment scheme in Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy.
Businesses in the Northern Islands have endured the aftermath of last year's Hurricane Irma. It was the very existence of certain activities that was in danger and therefore the maintenance of the personnel employed by them.
Consequently, the Minister of Labor, Mrs. Muriel Pénicaud, took the necessary measures to set up partial unemployment in our two communities in order to allow companies to keep their employees at least until the resumption of the next tourist season. Thus, for each compensable unemployed hour, the company pays its employees an hourly allowance and in return obtains a partial activity allowance co-financed by the State and Unedic.
This emergency system was the subject of an exceptional extension order published on May 12, 2018, increasing the quota of compensable annual hours from 1.000 to 1.600 hours per employee; this essential social buffer has helped stabilize the number of job seekers and avoid difficult human situations.
However, this system should end at the end of 2018; however, it must be realistic, some companies, especially in the tourism sector, will not have completed the reconstruction work and will not be able to assume the salaries of their employees.
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