Article

2006-03-11 Europe

Police fire teargas at French students protesting jobs bill

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Posted by lotp 2006-03-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11125 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I used to think that French youth were angry about the 20 percent unemployment rate among college graduates not being able to find work. Silly me.

Posted by Perfessor 2006-03-11 09:44|| 2006-03-11 09:44|| Front Page Top

#2 Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I assume that they are protesting 'which can be terminated without explanation by the employer'. I assume that the existing law doesn't permit this. Which would explain youth unemployment. What employer in their right mind would hire a new untested employee for a mandated two year stint. The person could turn out to be a complete bozo (or 'beauzau' in French) and then they'd be stuck with them. But, I guess they've stopped teaching macroeconomics in France.

Posted by DMFD 2006-03-11 10:14|| 2006-03-11 10:14|| Front Page Top

#3 They teach socialist ideology instead.

Posted by lotp 2006-03-11 10:27|| 2006-03-11 10:27|| Front Page Top

#4 First, it's a stupid law attempting to reduce some of the ill effects of even stupider laws. French employers will not be willing to employ people until the government gives them more say in the terms of employment.

Second, French universtiy students tend to be the elite and will get government and private sector jobs based on their education and connections. They want to ensure that those jobs keep their protections. Unemployment is high amoungst unskilled and less educated. The cost of employing people in France means that no new jobs are openning for that class.

When thinking about France consider it is like a feudal society with an elite class (university educated headed to government and corporate mangement), guilds (unions) and serfs.

Posted by DoDo 2006-03-11 12:15|| 2006-03-11 12:15|| Front Page Top

#5 And to think it's not even May.

Posted by 6 2006-03-11 12:41|| 2006-03-11 12:41|| Front Page Top

#6 I guess they've stopped teaching macroeconomics in France.

Ain't that the truth. Have a look at this ranking of university economics departments. Notice something? (if the link doesn't work: out of the top 25 economics departments in the world, 21 are in the US, 2 are Canadian, 1 is Dutch, 1 is in the UK). France comes in at number 46. If we limit the ranking to European universities only, France comes in at number 7, and it's not even a Parisian university, but the university in Toulouse. If you want to see the full ranking (200 universities) or other details, they can be found here. It's a pdf file: Pantelis Kalaitzidakis, Theofanis P. Mamuneas, and Thanasis Stengos (2003), "Rankings of academic journals and institutions in economics", Journal of the European Economic Association, 1: 1346-1366.

Years and years ago I went to an economics graduate school information session at a Canadian university. One student asked about European schools. One of the (Canadian) profs there stated quite simply, paraphrasing, "you are living next to the biggest economic powerhouse in the world, why would you even consider studying economics anywhere else?". Case closed.

Posted by Rafael 2006-03-11 14:41|| 2006-03-11 14:41|| Front Page Top

#7 I'll admit I just skimmed the article, but how many cars were torched? Isn't that the way they do all protests in France?

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-03-11 15:57|| 2006-03-11 15:57|| Front Page Top

#8 Alright, alright! We won't make you get jobs! Now go home and wait for your welfare checks.

Posted by bigjim-ky 2006-03-11 20:47|| 2006-03-11 20:47|| Front Page Top

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