Attitudes towards work, potential growth and reindustrialisation: The case of France

The change of attitude in France (but also in other countries) towards work after the COVID crisis is widely discussed. Employees reject arduous jobs, atypical working hours, want to have more leisure time, and want their jobs to be meaningful. For the time being, this has led to very serious recruitment difficulties, especially in sectors where jobs are considered arduous, as well as a reduction in working hours and consequently in labour productivity. The consequences of this change in attitudes towards work may be very significant: Disappearance of potential growth due to the decline in per capita labour productivity; Difficulties in reindustrialising, due to recruitment difficulties, unless there is a high degree of industrial automation (which is not yet visible). The problems of an economy without growth and with major recruitment difficulties for companies are obvious.