The years go by, and Emmanuel Macron reiterates his criticisms of the productivity of the French. In 2019, the former Minister of the Economy already stated very selectively that “France works on average much less than its neighbors”. It was then based on a classification of an economic research firm close to employers, Coe-Rexecode, rather than on figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which already painted a contrary picture.
Two years later, on the occasion of the presentation, Tuesday, October 12, of the France 2030 investment plan, the President of the Republic reiterated and clarified his remarks :
“When we compare ourselves, we are a country that works less than the others in quantity, this remains true. And so, we have an allocated amount of work that is not at the right level, both in the lifecycle and in cumulative schedules. (…) We need to have a country that produces more. “
The next day, at the end of the Council of Ministers, government spokesman Gabriel Attal detailed this statement: “The President of the Republic recalled something which is factual: the French work less, on average, than the others [habitants des] OECD countries, that’s what OECD statistics say [qui regroupe 38 pays, essentiellement occidentaux et industrialisés]. In 2020, the French with a job worked nearly three hundred hours less per year than the OECD average. If we start on seven-hour workdays, that’s more than a month less worked. And if we look at the weekly working time of people with a job, the French work two and a half hours less per week than the average for OECD countries. ” This explanation pulls the available indicators in the direction that suits the government.
Why is it questionable
Wrong weekly figures
First of all, it may seem surprising to take the year 2020 as a reference, when the Covid-19 pandemic has had a definite impact on production and the labor market in most countries.
In addition, Gabriel Attal affirms that the French “Work two and a half hours less per week than the average for OECD countries”. This is, however, false. With 36.5 hours of average weekly work in 2020 according to the OECD, France is only below the average of the 38 member countries of the international organization (37 hours) for only thirty minutes, not two hours and thirty minutes . France is certainly far behind Colombia (47.6 hours) but ahead of many rich countries, such as Switzerland (34.6 hours) or the Netherlands (29.5 hours).
A real but biased annual deficit
Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal are true at the annual level, the French work 1,402 hours per year on average, against 1,687 hours for OECD countries, and even 2,124 hours for Mexicans, according to 2020 figures.
But this indicator has many biases. For starters, it mixes up full-time and part-time jobs. The latter mechanically lower the average, particularly in Germany, where they are widespread, especially among women: the country is found last in this ranking. Impossible, therefore, to carry out, as Gabriel Attal suggests, calculations on the basis of “Seven-hour working days” while halves are taken into account.
Taking into account seasonal workers, who are very numerous in tourist countries such as France, contributes in the same way to reducing the average annual working time. Finally, these comparisons take into account the number of days not worked (paid leave and public holidays), which differ from one country to another. With 35 days “off”, workers in France are among those who have the most, which pulls the annual hourly average down.
One of the best hourly productivity in Europe
Does Emmanuel Macron choose to see the glass half empty? Other indicators, such as labor productivity per person employed and hours worked, which eliminates the differences between full-time and part-time, are rather to the advantage of France. According to data from the European Union, the country is ranked seventh for the year 2019, and even fifth for 2020. While Ireland is far ahead, France is doing better than Germany in this area.
This hourly productivity is also recognized abroad. As pointed out the British liberal weekly The Economist in 2015 : “The French could be on leave on Friday, they would produce even more than the British in a week. ”
Be careful, however, this does not mean that the French are, individually, more “workers” than elsewhere, but that productivity in general is higher there. This depends on many factors, points out the OECD : the personal capacities of individuals, but also production strategies, work organization, technical development, efficiency and economies of scale.
Behind the average worked, the question of employability
The question is thus more complex than a simple annual average would reveal. Moreover, for Antoine Goujard, economist at the OECD, author of a post on the issue of working time in France, the main problem is not so much the weekly or annual hourly volume, but the low number of years worked, which Emmanuel Macron mentions when speaking of the quantity of work “In the life cycle”. However, this number of years depends less on legal working time than on the fluidity of the labor market and its ability to integrate juniors and seniors.
However, notes Mr. Goujard, the employment rate at the end of studies is much lower than the average of European countries for the least qualified workers, and decreases rapidly from the age of 54, with an effective retirement age. labor market which is the second lowest of all OECD countries for men. Nor an extension of working hours weekly nor the postponement of the retirement age would resolve the issue of their low employability.