French War Against Unemployment

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe

France is to wage an all-out war against unemployment by reforming not just its labor rules but also the job training system, unemployment benefits and employment costs, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Sunday.

The battery of reforms will be carried out over the next year and aim to address the root causes of unemployment which has remained near 10 percent over the past decade, dragging on growth in Continental Europe’s second-biggest economy.

“Those who think that you can bring down unemployment via a single reform, on one front, are mistaken,” Philippe told the JDD weekly newspaper. “A global action is needed to attack unemployment from all angles: reluctance to hire in small and very small firms … but also the cost of labor.”

He said major overhauls of a job training system widely criticized as inefficient and a deeply indebted jobless benefit system would be carried out within a few months.

He also said workers’ purchasing power was set to get a major boost in January 2018 when the government plans to slash social contributions deducted from paychecks.

The hardline CGT trade union and far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon will hold nationwide protests this month against labor law reforms which they say will benefit the rich and people who have steady jobs while stripping workers of longstanding protections.

Image: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the CGT trade union.

But Philippe said the government would stick to its reform program regardless of opposition, as President Emmanuel Macron had been explicit about his plans during election his campaign.

“It’s out of the question to avoid reforming because it would irritate this or that party,” he said.

Macron’s popularity scores plummeted over the past six weeks amid rising anxiety about his reform plans and a series of missteps by his government.

The president said in an interview with Le Point magazine this week that he accepted living “with the impatience of the people” for a few months while his reforms were debated.