Do the French have any reason to complain about their purchasing power?

Major social tensions have appeared in France around the issue of purchasing power. Is this understandable from an economist’s viewpoint? We look at: Trends in the purchasing power of wages and in household incomes, and in income distribution; The cost of housing; The structure of jobs and the employment rate; The purchasing power of pensioners. We see that: The purchasing power of the working population and pensioners has increased by 1% to 1.2% per year; The cost of housing rose sharply until 2008, but has been falling since 2008; The quality of jobs is deteriorating significantly, which in our view is the major problem.