The French Worker-Slacker Paradox: Why More Hours May Not Be The Answer

-Analysis-

PARIS — The amount of work done in a country is one of the main drivers of its wealth and independence. France works the least of all OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries: 664 hours per capita, compared to 730 in Germany, 770 in the eurozone and 830 in the United States. But annual working hours aren’t the main issue.

While full-time employees in France do work fewer hours than their European counterparts, part-time work is less common in France, and self-employed workers often work more than those in other countries.

Overall, French workers don’t work fewer hours per year than European workers — in fact, they work more than Germans. Yet because they enter the workforce later and, more importantly, leave it earlier (by two to three years), the total amount of work over a lifetime is significantly lower.

Work more

This shortfall isn’t compensated by higher skills (France ranks 27th in the PIAAC survey) or greater productivity (34th out of 37 in the OECD).

The bottom line: France isn’t the most numerous, the hardest-working, the most skilled or the most productive. As a result, the French are increasingly slipping out of the ranks of the wealthiest nations — 26th in GDP per capita, down from 5th in 1980. The Macron government is right: France must work more or accept gradual relegation to a lower economic tier.

For 41 euros, would you work a full day without hesitation?

Yet, the French are reluctant to work more. Today’s workforce is the first generation since 1945 that hasn’t seen its standard of living improve through work. Purchasing power increases by just 0.8% per year, compared to 2% for the previous generation and 5% for the one before that.

What does an extra workday at minimum wage bring in today? Some 41 to 65 euros in gross wages, minus 24 euros in reduced activity bonuses.

Earned v. received salary

For those concerned about the supposed decline in the value of work, here’s the question: for 41 euros, would you work a full day without hesitation? The same applies to the top 10% of earners (those making over 4,000 euros net per month): earning an extra 100 euros in wages leaves them with only 33 to 47 euros after taxes.

In France, earning through work has become less appealing than earning through other means — such as rents, pensions, or inheritance. Among OECD countries, they work the least and are one of the heaviest taxers of labor.

These two realities feed into each other, creating a vicious cycle.

Moving forward

How can France resolve this?

First, improve the remuneration of work by reducing the gap between earned salary and received salary (the Marcon government, on the contrary, proposes to increase it). Next, invest more in skills to give everyone the means to choose their work and to be more productive in their work (the government, on the contrary, is reducing access to training). Finally, give everyone the freedom to vary the intensity of their work at different periods of their life, to individualize the necessary extension of working life.

This way, we would have a chance to reconcile the individual aspirations of the French with the general interest of France, by working more in certain select and better-paid jobs.