|
| What's wrong (or right) with France ? |
Les Echos is the French equivalent of The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times : a very well-regarded newspaper.
For each presidential election, its publishes a supplement "The audit of France" : here are excerpts from its April3, 2012 issue. |
|
|
|
| |
What's bad ? |
|
What's good ? |
Six major indicators :
- Trade Balance : a big and growing deficit: from + 3.5 b Euros (2002) to - 70 b Euros (2011) (Source : customs)
- A growing R&D gap with Germany, from 2,24 vs 2,5% (2002) to 2,26 vs 2,82% (2010) (Source : Eurostat)
- The excessif growth of property prices (2000-2010) : + 107% (vs inflation 19% and rents 47%) (Source : INSEE, notaries)
- The decline of the propostion of industry in national value added : from 17,8% (2000) to 12,6% (2010) vs Germany (from 25,2% to 24,7%) (Source : Eurostat)
- A declining share of the world international trade : from 4,7% (2000) to 3,4% (2010) vs USA 12,3% to 12,8% and Germany 8,7% to 8,3% (Source : WTO)
- A large budgetary deficit as a % of GNP : 5,2% (2011) vs Germany 1% and UK 8,4% (Source : European Commission)
|
|
Reasons for hope :
- The French demography is excellent : fecondity rate 2.02 (the best in Europe, with Ireland)
- Some economic sectors are internationaly very strong : ex. aeronautics (Toulouse is a world leader),
- Many examples of dynamism : ex. more and more French young expats (30.000 in China),
- Specific expertise and image : ex. mathematics, ex. all sectors associated with urbanization (water, public transport, urban utilities, ...)
- The country istself is an asset : ex. 80 million foreign tourists (#1 in the world),ex. French culture,
|
| What's wrong with the French ? |
|
What's strange with the French ? |
- They are economically illiterate
- they prefer fight to negociation
- A major political issue : what should the State do and how to manage it better ?
|
|
The French are "happy pessimists" (Source : CEVIPOF)
- Do you think that 2012 will be a year of economic difficulties ? YES = 81% (vs EU 52%, USA 43%, Asia 30%)
- Everything considered, are you happy ? YES = 81%
- Read more about happiness...
|
French trade balance by sector (2011) :
| Sector |
Revenue (b. Euros) |
Negative balance |
Positive balance |
Trend since 2002 |
French world leaders (°) |
| Distribution |
404 |
|
95 |
improving |
Carrefour (#32), Auchan (#142) |
| Banks |
141 |
|
78 |
improving |
BNP Paribas (#26), CréditAgricole (#43), Société Générale (#72) |
| Mechanical |
109 |
|
45,2 |
improving |
Schneider Electric (#374) |
| Telecoms |
40 |
|
27 |
improving |
France Telecom (#130), Vivendi (#225) |
| Luxe |
31 |
|
26 |
improving |
LVMH (#344), PPR (#421) |
| Construction/public works |
160 |
|
25 |
improving |
Saint-Gobain (#155), Vinci (#192), Bouygues (#206) |
| Aeronautics |
38 |
|
17,7 |
improving |
|
| Foodstuffs |
144 |
|
11,4 |
improving |
Danone (#433) |
| Chemicals |
87 |
|
4,4 |
degradation |
Sanofi Aventis (#187) |
| Energy (excluding petrol) |
155 |
|
2,6 |
improving |
Total (#11), GDF Suez (#38), EDF (#68) |
| Automobile |
166 |
- 5,3 |
|
degradation |
PSA (#90), Renault (#163), Michelin (#411) |
| Textile |
24 |
- 12,2 |
|
degradation |
|
(°) With Fortune Top 500 ranking
|
A survey on French expatriates
- The number of French citizens living abroad and listed at the embassy has doubled in 20 years : from 0.9 million to 1.6 million in 2013 ; it represents a flow of 60,000 to 80,000 persons a hers, mostly young ; French expatriates have a much higher education level (53% college) that the French population (12.5%);
- 27% of young French people with a college degree consider that their future is abroad (versus 12% two year ago!) ;
- on average, they envisage to stay abroad 1 to 5 years but almost one third (28%) consider spending their whole life abroad
- half of the French emigrants go to an other European country ; all the other European countries experience the same situation : total number of emigrants : France 1.6 m, Italy 3.6, Germany 4.3, UK 4.7 ; (Source CCI Paris, 2013 published in Le Monde March 11, 2014)
|
| Some bad news ..... |
|
Some good news ..... |
- Unemployment : around 10% (vs Spain 23,3%, UK 8,4%, Germany 5,8%)
- Taxes are among the highest in the world : France 42,5% of GNP (vs Sweden 45,8%, Germany 36,3, USA 24,8%)
- Education: by all standards, including the OECD PISA survey, France's is regressing and ranks around #20
- and many others ....
|
|
- Number of years of life after retirement : France 18,9 years (vs Germany 15,1, USA 10,4)
- Health expenses : the evolution is better controled and the annual growth is decreasing
- State expenses: the 2007 program of control (RGPP = Révision Générale des Politiques Publiques) is progressing
- Job flexibility : it is now easier to reduce a company's staff ("séparation amiable")
- and many others...
|
| To related pages : Intercultural differences, French society, French politics, etc. |
To table
of contents
To top of the
page
Back to home
page |
To email
me |
Harriet Welty
Rochefort writes articles and books about France and the French.
Order her books:
- "French Toast, An American in Paris
Celebrates The Maddening Mysteries of the French", St.Martin's Press,
New York, 1999
- "French Fried, The Culinary Capers
of An American in Paris", St.Martin's Press, New York, 2001
More on Harriet's books (excerpts, upcoming
events, testimonials, etc..) |
|