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Paris - A clear majority of French voters would support reforms to clamp down on jobless benefits that trade union leaders oppose, according to an opinion poll published on Saturday by iTele and the daily Le Parisien.
Some 82% of respondents said they would back measures allowing workers to pay lower contributions in return for more modest benefit entitlements if they lost their jobs, according to the findings.
President Francois Hollande, whose approval ratings have set a new postwar low for a French head of state, announced a policy U-turn last month to lighten the tax burden on companies in return for hiring pledges. He also pledged to stamp out abuses of the country's generous welfare system.
French unemployment benefits, linked to a beneficiary's former salary rather than set at a flat rate for all, are among the most generous in the world, particularly for top earners.
But trade union leaders have ruled out cutting the amount or duration of benefits, which can go up to 75% of past wages and last for two years, or three for workers over 50.
Hollande reaped strong criticism from trade unions this week for simply meeting Peter Hartz, the architect of Berlin's labour reforms of the last decade that revived the German economy by reining in jobless benefits and making work time more flexible.
An aide had to deny Hartz was advising Hollande on how to reform the French economy.
The new survey by pollster BVA was designed to test support for measures proposed by France's CGPME confederation of small and medium-sized businesses as the national jobless rate approaches 11%.
Benefit claimants who turned down more than two job offers should lose their entitlements, according to another proposal supported by 64% of voters, according to the poll.
The survey questioned 994 people by telephone and online between January 30 and 31.
