Sunshine and Light

Lazy Fair

This story in the Guardian makes me think my children should be packing their bags to France when it comes time to job hunt. I particularly like this:

Under current law, employers face a stringent test when they terminate contracts and risk fines, or being forced to make fixed-term contracts permanent if they fail to adequately justify the redundancy. The new contract allows employers to take on workers aged under 26 who have not worked for six months on a two-year deal.

The test for making the employee redundant during that period is less tough than under the existing law, but remains reasonably stringent, according to the Paris-based employment lawyer Florence Dupont

From what I understand from reading other articles, essentially the deal in France is, once you get a job, you can effectively never be fired. Awesome if you're the employee, but as an employer, maybe not so much. If you don't hire the right person for the job, oh well. But on the flip side, would you take the chance on an immigrant "youth" if you knew that meant you were stuck with him or her forever whether they fit your business or not? And that's why de Villepin proposed this:

Mr de Villepin proposed the idea as a way to help underprivileged youths find jobs following riots in poor urban areas across the country last October and
November. According to the OECD's latest figures, unemployment among under-25s
in France is 23%, compared with 11% in the UK, 12% in Germany and a European
Union average of 16.5%.

Talk (and laugh enviously) amongst yourselves.

posted by MyHusbandRules @ 4:21 PM