Newly-released statistics reveal that French unemployment fell to its lowest level in 25 years last month, reducing the economy-wide unemployment rate to 8.1%. That's right, the unemployment rate in France has not been below 8% since the mid-term election of the first Reagan administration. Thatcher had been in office for about three years. The Berlin Wall was a solid barrier rather than an historical oddity. Roger Dietzel was half-way through his twenty-year (unsuccessful) wait for a shiny new Trabant. Through all of the dramatic changes that have occurred since 1982, the one constant appears to be rigid French labor market institutions.
Sarkozy promised action this summer; as he has now elected a friendly legislature and selected a government, perhaps he will begin? Or maybe the recent stellar labor market performance--best in 25 years--means that he need not bother?
IPE @ UNC
IPE@UNC is a group blog maintained by faculty and graduate students in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The opinions expressed on these pages are our own, and have nothing to do with UNC.
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Friday, June 29, 2007
Plus Ca Changes...
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