France has embarked on an economic and social experiment that is changing the face of employment in that country. The country has instituted a law requiring 35-hour work weeks, believing that it will stimulate the economy by decreasing unemployment and creating new jobs. It was also expected that such a law would encourage innovation in labor negotiation contracts (Trumbull, 2001). Now that the law has been in force for four years, it makes sense to consider what effects the law has had on French employment.
Since the law was passed in 1998, some companies have devised creative ways to implement the law. The result has been employment law and practice that has both pros and cons.
The move toward this law began when the French Prime Minister made the promise of a 35-hour work week an important part of his election campaign in 1997. When he first made the promise, he was loudly criticized both in his own country and in other countries. The critics believed the approach was simplistic and unlikely to have the desired economic effects (Staff writers, 2002).
However, many citizens in France saw the need for change. While the law was being debated in the French parliament, workers staged demonstrations against unemployment in major French cities (Staff writers, 1998). The proposed law was strongly opposed by many French companies, fearful that their costs would rise unacceptably. Nevertheless, the law passed, and was implemented for larger companies beginning in 1998, with the requirement that all companies with more than 20 employees have...
3-0.27 France 1.6-0.25 Germany 2.1-0.19 Italy 1.9-0.24 Japan 1.9-0.19 UK 1.4-0.40 US 1.0-0.41 Source Kodakanchi et al. (2006) citing Schreyer (1999), Table, page 19 Further reported by Kodakanchi et. al, is the fact that one of the African countries, and there are many, that faces poverty and inequality disaster is the country of Ghana. Advances in technology in Ghana are stated to be "meager since its independence in 1957." (2006) the economic development model based on it for
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