France: Beware, industrial cost competitiveness is deteriorating again
It is well known that one of France’s serious structural problems is that manufacturing industry production costs are high relative to the level of industrial product so phistication, as shown by the export market share losses and the stagnation in industrial production capacity. However, since the start of 2018, industrial cost competitiveness has been deteriorating further, due to the rise in labour costs. As industrial sales prices cannot keep up with costs, given the intensity of competition, industrial profit margins are declining. This once again shows that the labour market in France does not react to the need for an improvement in cost competitiveness, and it is very worrying if the period of improving industrial competitiveness and profit margins in France (2010 to 2015) is already over.