The French economy is in shambles. The unemployment rate is 10.5 percent, the youth jobless rate is 25 percent, taxes are very high, the French debt of GDP is 93.5 percent and the government is just too big in France.
France, with all of its beauty and charm, has proven that socialism is an unsustainable model, and always will be.
The French government is attempting to circumvent any further crisis by taking a move out of the playbook of most socialist countries: hire more civil servants. Reportedly, the government is seeking to hire 50,000 workers, and about one-quarter of its population is already on the public payroll. Yikes!
Taxes and debt aren’t the only things holding back the economy. Economic Policy Journal published a list (courtesy of The Local) of what benefits and perks companies are mandated to provide employees. The list is huge and the cost, no doubt, is just too much to bear. No wonder why people are fleeing the country.
Government-mandated benefits ultimately result in bad news for both the employer and employee.
Here’s the list:
– RTT days: overtime pay when you work more than 35 hours.
– Subsidized travel: your employer has to cover the cost of public transit to and from by up to 50 percent.
– Restaurant vouchers: lunch vouchers of up to 50 percent if there is no on-site cafeteria or self-service kitchen.
– Paid days off for weddings and funerals: employees get up to four days off when you get married and two days off if a spouse or child passes away. If your child gets married then you get a day off.
– Subsidized healthcare: beginning in 2016, companies will be mandated to provide workers with a “mutuelle,” pay for medical costs not covered by the government.
– Guaranteed maternity leave: employers must give you 16 weeks of paid maternity leave.
– Guaranteed paternity leave: new fathers receive 11 consecutive days off; if a father has twins then they get another six days off.
– Thirteenth month bonus: employers could be required to give its workers a “13th month bonus.” This is essentially an additional month’s worth of pay in order to pay taxes.
– The minimum wage: employers are legally forced to pay employees either €1,445 ($1,600) per month before taxes or €9.53 ($10.66) per hour.
Under these conditions, who would ever want to start a business? Guillaume Santacruz, a French entrepreneur, may have said it best:
“A lot of people are like, ‘Why would you ever leave France?’ I’ll tell you. France has a lot of problems. There’s a feeling of gloom that seems to be growing deeper. The economy is not going well, and if you want to get ahead or run your own business, the environment is not good.”
France is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Too bad its economy isn’t.
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