MARCHING BACKWARDS

by MONITOR
WHEN Dominique de Villepin was made prime minister of France by President Chirac it was widely noted that despite his success as a diplomat and foreign minister he lacked essential experience in the rough-and-tumble of domestic politics. And so it has proved. Although the street marches and strikes of the last few weeks have been directed primarily at the new youth employment law, now withdrawn, they were also a protest at the way in which the law was rushed through parliament by the prime minister without adequate preliminary consulation with those most affected. The law was well-intended, as a way of encouraging employers to take on young employees without the risk of having to employ them for life, but it was badly executed. Unfortunately, the defeat of this relatively minor adjustment to France's rigid labour rules may make it much more difficult for other more substantial reforms to be introduced.
LAGGING BEHIND BRITAIN
THOSE who are most likely to suffer from the withdrawal of the new law are precisely those who demonstrated so effectively against it. Young people, except for those very well-qualified, will continue to find it difficult to get the all-important first job. Youth employment stands at 23 per cent overall and as high as 50 per cent among the children of immigrants in the suburbs where last summer's riots and burning cars were seen.Unemployment across the whole population is 9.2 per cent, double that of Britain while growth has lagged behind Britain's for the past five years.