Emmanuel Macron announces the creation of “better paid” and “shorter” “birth leave”

Yesterday evening, Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a “birth leave” to replace the current parental leave. What does it consist of? How long does it last? Answers.

“Unlock the economic and social obstacles to the desire to have children”

While in 2023, births have reached a historically low level (the total fertility indicator stands at 1.68 children per woman compared to 1.79 a year earlier), Emmanuel Macron wanted to present measures to fight against this birth of birth. The most emblematic is that of offering parents birth leave.better paid” with 429 euros per month.

This birth leave will also be “shorter than current parental leave, which can last up to three years and which keeps many women out of the labor market“, Emmanuel Macron said this Tuesday, during a press conference.

It will allow “both parents to be with their child for six months if they wish”, he detailed, estimating that the current leave “creates a lot of anxiety because it is extremely little and poorly paid“, and thus creates “impossible situations“. According to the Elysée, the objective is to “unlock the economic and social obstacles to the desire to have children“.

“Blocks”, confirmed by Sylvie Le Minez, head of the demographic studies and surveys unit at INSEE: “The general increase in prices, which weighs on households, can alter the desire to have children“.

Another obvious obstacle: the difficulties women have in reconciling their family life with their professional life. “Because the burden of children always rests mainly on them“, she concludes.

Birth leave: when can you take it?

Last November, the Minister of Solidarity Aurore Bergé indicated that both parents could take this birth leave.at the same time or one after the other, full-time or part-time“.

She also assured that this leave “could coexist with the old parental leave“. It will nevertheless be necessary to move from the project to the bill, to know the final contours of this proposal.

What about entry into force?

Emmanuel Macron gave no indication of timetable. But Aurore Bergé last November mentioned the establishment of this leave “from 2025”.

The professional conditions to benefit from it, particularly in terms of seniority and status, are not yet known.

For Déborah David, associate lawyer in social law at De Gaulle Fleurance, this birth leave is also a measure “interesting for businesses“.

In today’s job market “three years is an eternity” and having to return the employee to their original position can be complicated. A shorter leave would allow us to have an employee who is not “away for too long”.

What do associations and experts think?

“Improving parental leave compensation is a good thing but it will have to be improved significantly to meet parents’ wishes.“, declared to AFP the general director of the National Union of Family Associations (Unaf) Guillemette Leneveu.

“Parents must lose the least by taking care of their children“, she adds. “We absolutely must get as close as possible to the Nordic model which is around 75% otherwise it will be a reform that will change nothing“.

In a report on “the child’s first 1,000 days” submitted to the government in 2020, a commission of experts recommended the establishment of parental leave of 9 months (36 weeks) shareable between both parents .

The experts insisted on the importance of a “sufficiently attractive” level of compensation, which would correspond “at a minimum amount of 75% of the income received regardless of status“.

A major plan to combat infertility, with what measures?

The President also mentioned a major national plan to combat infertility. Following the 2021 bioethics law, the Minister of Health and the Secretary of State for Family Affairs commissioned two specialists to report on the causes of infertility and propose measures. A plan was already planned at the time…

Today in France, one in four couples are affected by infertility (as defined by the World Health Organization, i.e. no pregnancy after 12 months of trying). For several decades, male infertility and. female population has continued to increase in developed countries.

The number of births fell by 6.6% in France in 2023, falling below the symbolic mark of 700,000 for the first time since 1946.