Ignorance is bliss. French ignorance is down right entertaining!

As we speak thousands of youths and other trade unions are tearing up the streets of France in protest over a policy proposed by the French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin. The idea behind the policy is to allow companies to lay off workers under the age of 26 within the first two years of employment if they are not working out. The goal is to entice French companies to take a chance on young inexperienced workers in a country where unemployment is 10% and double that for the youth.

Companies currently won’t hire young workers because French laws require employers to protect employees with expensive contracts. As I have said before, there is a reason why the U.S. has an unemployment rate of less than 5% with 4% GDP growth and France has 10% unemployment with 1% GDP growth. Labor flexibility! Giving companies the ability to react quickly to ever changing economic environments allow companies to come out of recessions quicker and grow stronger during times of prosperity.

The fact that twenty-year-old kids would be fighting for long-term employment I think really says a lot about their ambition as a whole.