The Revenu de solidarité active (RSA) is a French social welfare benefit that supplements the income of a person who is destitute or has few resources, in order to guarantee a minimum income.
In return, depending on the situation, its beneficiaries are obliged to look for a job, to take up an activity and to define and pursue a professional project aimed at improving their financial situation and their professional or social integration.
[1] RSA replaces the Revenu minimum d'insertion; its goal is to provide a minimum income for unemployed and underemployed workers, with the aim of encouraging them to find work, and provide a complement for low-wage workers so that they do not suffer the perverse effects of earning less through employment than unemployment.
[2] Although the initial programme applied only to workers over the age of 25, "La loi de finances pour 2010 (article 135)"[3] extended benefits to young people aged 18 to 25 who have worked the equivalent of at least two years over the preceding three calendar years.
If a person's revenue from work does not reach the RSA threshold, the state pays a negative income tax to the employee.