DECRYPTION – The French industrial disaster is partly explained by the preference of the public authorities for the social treatment of factory closures
For forty years France has been living to the rhythm of the country’s deindustrialisation. Initiated at the end of the 1970s, the movement accelerated from the first seven years of François Mitterrand. In the wake of international free trade agreements, which plunged French groups into a competitive battle with much more competitive foreign players, the share of the industrial sector in the gross domestic product (GDP) collapsed by 24% in 1980 to 10% today.
Read alsoHas the country reindustrialized under the Macron five-year term?
During the thirty years of fastest decline, between 1980 and 2010, France lost 2 million industrial jobs. Since the election of Emmanuel Macron, and the undeniable shock of confidence caused in economic circles by his tax reforms, a slight improvement has been measured. Before the pandemic brutally halted the springs of the rebound, 25,000 industrial jobs had been created between 2018 and 2019.
Mass unemployment
Jobs that have however profoundly changed in nature. “From now on…
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