Those who believe that France will avoid internal devaluation are mistaken

France has a competitiveness problem due to the fact that labour costs are high and labour force skills are low. The low skill level will take a long time to correct , especially as it is still fuelled by the poor quality of the education system. France's competitive disadvantage was exacerbated in the 2000s by the internal devaluation (reduction in labour costs) in Germany and in the 2010s in Spain. In addition, France is reaching the limit of its ability to lower corporate production costs by lowering taxes. If skills are going to remain low, if labour costs are high relative to other euro-zone countries and if the use of tax cuts is reaching its limit, it is not clear how France will be able to avoid internal devaluation in the future, even though public opinion completely rejects this solution at present. An internal devaluation can take the form of a wage freeze, an increase in working hours at unchanged wages, etc.