France: For the time being, the growth in low-end activities maintains the illusion
France’s structural problems are well known: low labour force skill level, weak capital modernisation in companies and, as a result, deindustrialisation, deteriorating industrial foreign trade, low productivity gains and potential growth, low employment rate. But France’s macroeconomic situation is not that catastrophic: the unemployment rate has decreased sharply, growth is decent, the current-account balance does not show a serious deficit; the country’s external debt is small. In reality, the development of low-end activities maintains the illusion, thanks in particular to: The growth in domestic unsophisticated service jobs: (retail, transport, household services, hotels/restaurants); The sharply growing external surplus for tourism.