This subject is exercising minds throughout France and a day with many protests is expected on Wednesday 9th March. Myriam El Khomri is the Minister charged with this major reform, which is opposed by 70% of French voters according a recent poll. The proposals are opposed by unions and many government supporters because they are perceived as "liberal" - a term associated with Anglo Saxon style economics. Regulations making it easier to sack workers; limits to compensation; more flexible working weeks. More than 1 million people have signed an on-line petition asking the government to drop the reforms.
Jean Tirole, economist and Nobel prize winner at the Toulouse School of Economics, has contributed to an article in Le Monde which argues that the aims of the reforms are to make it easier for employers to offer permanent contracts of employment (CDI) rather than the much abused system of short term contracts (CDD). Employers, he says, will welcome the confidence that "certainty" gives them. Spain adopted a similar reform in 2012 and saw a rise in CDI of 300000 jobs, and reducing unemployment remains the government's top priority.
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