Paris
The French are going to have to rethink the 35-hour workweek, the government said this week. The shorter hours, mandated by a Socialist government four years ago, were intended to reduce unemployment by forcing firms to hire more workers. But the hiring hasn’t happened, said the center-right government of current Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Instead, the 35-hour week has handcuffed companies and strangled France’s economic growth. Still, the government has no intention of telling the French to go back to working a full 40 hours. Budget Minister Alain Lambert said he merely wanted to change the law so that employers and unions had the option to negotiate contracts that included extra hours.
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