Where is France’s neoliberalism?

It is often claimed that France has suffered from the shift to neoliberal economic policies, which have worsened the situation for wage earners and increased inequality. This claim is completely ridiculous: France is characterised by large-scale social welfare and redistributive policies, low income inequality after redistribution, a high minimum wage, the considerable weight of the state in the economy, a highly regulated labour market and an income distribution skewed in favour of wage earners; France’s problems (deindustrialisation, high low-skilled unemployment, high youth unemployment) have nothing to do with neoliberalism. They result from unresolved structural problems (inefficient education system, low labour force skills) and from the high corporate tax burden, which is the flipside of France’s generous social welfare system, and therefore from the very fact that France is not neoliberal.