Comments on: Why France MUST Reform - MUST, I Tell You!

By: David Weman

David Weman — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 10:43:45 +0000

That’s a rather odd cooment. This is a blog. Follow the links.

By: Rashid

Rashid — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 06:07:54 +0000

Just a humble suggestion: when dealing with quantitative issues, use numbers rather than adjectives. An article such as this, so devoid of numbers–but crammed full of adjectives–projects the image of innumeracy and unreliability. I realize that this idea flies in the face of everything that’s taught in J school, but there must be a reason why newspapers are doing so poorly, and the quality of the writing is one prime candidate.

By: ava

ava — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 04:53:31 +0000

A few comments from France :
- Undoubtedly, it is very difficult to build up a business in France. I run one, I can tell you. Administrations and banks make it tremendously challenging to cash the first euro.
- French Education ignores the labour market. For instance half of European students in psychology are in France (40k), another 40k study to become sports teachers, with less than 1000 jobs in each case. Studies last very long, and obviously qualified people fell frustrated to work in call centers or fast foods because they have no choice. It is difficult to hire in many fields.
- But these studies are free which explains why few students work, and longer, which explains why there are so few actives in the age class.
- Dear Mr jmc, yes we do have a huge problem of global disconnection of “ENArque fluff” like Chirac, de Villepin, Jospin or Juppe with the real world. We do have a huge problem of populism with Sarkozy when he said last week “France like it or leave it”, while foreigners bad treatments by the police (he runs as Minister of Interior) reach summits.
- There is a lot to do in France to improve the Economy (to which I dedicate my blog, in French sorry) and it is indeed urgent to do so. However, don’t throw the baby with the bath water, social protections, public transportations and health system are good.

By: Charly

Charly — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 03:46:11 +0000

6.8% sounds like a very low number. So low that i suspect that it is an statistical artifact and not reality.

ps. I doubt 42% of students have full time jobs.

By: Shannon Love

Shannon Love — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 01:58:40 +0000

From the A Fist Full of Euro Link:

The unemployment rate for the under 24s in France is indeed 23%. But you have to remember that the unemployment rate is the ratio of unemployed to active population (i.e. those working or seeking work). Counted as a ratio to the overall youth population, unemployment is only 8%, just like in the UK or the US.

This doesn’t track. According to the subsequent illustration only 6.8% of French students work while going to school compared to 42% in the UK. To get the same unemployment rate while counting the 93.2% of French students who do not seek work you would need significantly more jobs available in the UK than in France.

Moreover, unless French parents are extremely generous, the 93.2% of non-working French students must receive a substantial subsidy from the state. Economically, they are on the dole. If the state suddenly cut back on the subsidy could French students expect to find jobs like their counterparts in the UK? No they could not because even with roughly 36% of their peers removed from the workforce by state subsidy as compared to the UK, they still have the same unemployment rate as the UK.

Obviously, the French economy provides far fewer jobs for the age group than does the UK.

By: joe

joe — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 21:37:20 +0000

I think the french are doing just fine too. I see no need for them to do anything different. They are one of leading lights of Europe and the world.

They should just keep on keeping on.

By: Laurent GUERBY

Laurent GUERBY — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 04:02:00 +0000

jmc, if you look at the current french government poll ratings, it looks like frenchies are tired of being ruled by incompetents and/or crooks. If some reform turn out to be necessary, there will be less protests if there is decent dialogue, a reform on sound grounds and less corruption and hypocrisy in execution.

http://guerby.org/blog/index.php/2006/04/23/66-les-manifestants-francais-sont-des-dieux-en-economie

By: Jérôme à Paris

Jérôme à Paris — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 15:27:29 +0000

Thanks for the link. Here’s a new graph from the FT on what the “unemployment rate” means:
http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2006/4/20/12054/3629 (I am adding a link to your interesting post there)

(feel free to post the image if you want: link is http://www.eurotrib.com/files/3/060420_youth_unemployment_FT.jpg)

Remember, the real problem of France is that we still have it “too good”, according to the economist (http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2006/4/15/15148/1138)

By: jmc

jmc — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:55:51 +0000

Your thesis is very neat except for one small problem - France is in a state of crisis not because of UMP political manipulation but because the French people are genuinely disillusioned, angry and frightened at the current state of the country. Based on your description of the UK pre-Thatcher I would guess that you were not old enough to have experienced first hand the same crises atmosphere in the UK back then. What I hear and see in France today is a rerun of the UK back then. The Thatcher ‘revolution’ was less economic than cultural, and thats what France needs today, a Sarkozy to shake things up, rather than ENArque fluff like de Villepin or Royal

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 03:30:19 +0000

Yes, but the parties on the French right have always (for which read post-1945, or perhaps post-1968) been personalized vehicles for the top leader. That’s just one of the reasons I always chuckle about democratic criteria (e.g., for Central Europe) that call for parties to represent segments of society and avoid personalization.

So the UPM is just the latest in a long-ish line of parties that try to unite fractious coalitions behind a single personality. That’s the French right.