The Best Hope for France’s Young? Get Out

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/the-best-hope-for-frances-young-get-out.html?hp

by wallflower • 13 years ago

61 94 13 years ago

nytimes.com

joshguthrie• 13 years ago

I approve of this.

Related: Will code Node.js for food if given out of France, wanna hire me?

hga• 13 years ago

"France has always been a land to which people dream of coming. Not leaving."

That would be news to my mother and her ancestors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun

cobrausn• 13 years ago

My dear father [...] you can come here boldly with my dear mother and all the other Acadian families. They will always be better off than in France. There are neither duties nor taxes to pay and the more one works, the more one earns without doing harm to anyone. —Jean-Baptiste Semer, 1766[8]

theorique5• 13 years ago

Also see: Eastern Canada.

(Mind you, this was in the 18th century, but still.)

mynameishere2• 13 years ago

Cajuns were from Eastern Canada.

siscia• 13 years ago

Oh, well Italy is even worse...

thasmin2• 13 years ago

It's interesting to see the EU take form. With the recent finance reforms and articles like this, it looks to me like the EU is becoming more and more like the US with the countries taking the role of states. Moving between US states for the purpose of employment is extremely common. The EU countries have more border autonomy and language barriers that prevent people from moving between them, but it seems similar to the formation of the US and the subsequent 200 years of consolidating power at the federal level. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next 20 years.

mpyne• 13 years ago

Many of the people I chat to from Europe on IRC confirm that notion. They consider themselves E.U. citizens first and foremost.

Of course these are heavily tech-oriented chat rooms so I'm not sure how far that can be applied. But I find it interesting myself, especially given the history of the USA, where right up to the 1870s people considered themselves a citizen of the state first and not the nation... obviously it has eventually inverted.

But should this inversion actually happen, when does the USA get to ask for the E.U. to act as a singular entity for things like Olympics, U.N. representation, and other international protocols? ;)

rtpg4• 13 years ago

I can't recall where I saw it, but there was a poll asking people whether they felt European or a citizen of their own country. The "Europeans" were not very high. Definitely some selection bias (firstly, I guess you're talking to people who are comfortable IRC'ing in English).

Also, the EU is already represented as a whole in some int'l organisations (such as the dual representation in the WTO), and economonically the Euro Zone is a block from the outside.

thasmin2• 13 years ago

U.N. representation is a really good point, especially with UK and France both having veto power. It will happen when it's beneficial for the countries to be consolidated as one body because they'd represent more economic and political power. Looking forward, I'd guess that this wouldn't happen until India and China and other currently developing nations have bigger economies per capita than France and Germany.

virtualwhys3• 13 years ago

Hang on, hang on, let me shed a tear while I contemplate the fact that EVERY French citizen without a job gets a monthly pay check.

It may be subsistence living, but unlike the States where unemployment means credit debt and eventual homelessness, it's living nonetheless, and the state foots the bill, incredible social safety net.

As an expat living part of the year in France it's always shocked me how unemployed seasonal workers get up to 80% of their salary for the 8 months of the year they don't work. Where I'm living (SW France), kids will work the summer season in a restaurant or similar, then come autumn, hey, time to go surfing in Indonesia, "pay" checks mailed to the bank.

Needless to say, the French live pretty well working or not.

aeden• 13 years ago

Unfortunately this may not be sustainable in the long run unless more people create new businesses in France, and starting a business here seems daunting due to the expense for the social and welfare system. The more I learn about the welfare system in France though the more I believe that building a profitable business here is possible, but it takes an understanding on how to work within the system. The problem is that there will continue to be cheaper options by setting up shop outside of France and that will continue to be an attractive option to low-margin businesses.

theorique5• 13 years ago

unemployed seasonal workers get up to 80% of their salary for the 8 months of the year they don't work.

My goodness, who pays for this?

PanickedOmlette4• 13 years ago

Taxpayers. And that, people, is socialism.

That's the cycle ---> rich country with strong middle class --> right-wing politicians get less and less popular/elected --> socialists/communists come --> poor country --> right-wing politicians are elected again

seszett• 13 years ago

Nobody - I'm not sure where he took that from, seasonal workers get an unemployment indemnity proportional to the amount of time they worked during the year, so in this example, they worked 4 months out of 12, so their indemnity would be about 50% of 33% of their salary.

16.5% really isn't a lot.

rbehrends• 13 years ago

It doesn't quite work that way.

First of all, in order to collect unemployment benefits in France, you must be actively looking for work. If you are being offered a job and don't take it, your benefits will be cut.

Second, you generally don't get 80% of your previous income. You get one of the following:

57.4% of your previous salary. 40.4% of your previous salary + 11.57 Euro per day, to a maximum of 75% of your previous salary, and no less than 28.21 Euro per day.

If you get 75% of your previous salary, then only because your income was pretty low to begin with.

(And I'm pretty sure there are more inaccuracies; the GP looks like it's been taken from some tabloid.)

As to who pays for it: The majority of social expenditures are actually for pensions and health. In 2005, France spent about 7.5% of its total social expenditures on unemployment [1] -- and the unemployment rate wasn't much lower back then -- as opposed to 37.4% on pensions and 29.8% on health (I note that France has one of the more efficient healthcare systems in the world, and a rather good one, too).

What a lot of people both in the US and the EU don't understand is that dealing with unemployment in a reasonable way is not actually all that expensive. Full benefits are generally only being paid for a short time, long-term benefits (subsistence level or slightly above) are not very expensive, and the structural costs of not doing it (such as increased crime rates) are probably more expensive in the long run.

[1] http://imgur.com/42DLRK4

joonix• 13 years ago

Well that's obviously not sustainable and part of the reason they can't get full time jobs in the first place.

zanny2• 13 years ago

If you have tremendous productivity in a small portion of your society, it is absolutely sustainable to subsidize the rest of the population on monthly checks. If someone is making 10,000% profit (and completely automated production drives costs to just upfront purchase and maintenance) that profit can provide for millions without them having to work.

I think it is a cultural scar that everyone is expected to spend 1/3 their week laboring for someone else (most of the time). If that labor doesn't produce real value (and a lot of the US jobs market is artificial middle men rendered obsolete by pervasive instantaneous international communication of information) you are just wasting peoples time having them drain their energy and time in a fruitless job, where they might (you never know) take their free time and initiative spent on petty labor and produce miraculous things like new inventions or art or community service.

louischatriot• 13 years ago

Huh, that's simply not true. On unemplyment, you get 57% of your salary for as long as you've worked with a maximum of 2 years. You have to be actively looking for a job, including monthly meetings with the administration and the more you wait, the lower the bar becomes for the job they will force you to take.

This system is far from perfect, and this country is definitely not the best place to create a company. But let's not spread crazy rumors like this.

nraynaud8• 13 years ago

I think he's referring to seasonal contracts, and I think they have a different system.

virtualwhys3• 13 years ago

May have changed, the max percentage, and the rules might be getting more strict, but in the surf region of France, you might say it's a sport working around the system.

When I ask people who have lost their jobs working for Billabong, RipCurl, etc., well, what are you going to do, will you be OK? Nobody is worried in that case as it's 2 years sans travail if you're so inclined.

The system will have to change, but I doubt there will be a radical shift as the French are the striking kings -- no people resist (and succeed in so doing) change like the French; they take to the streets en masse forcing policy makers to relent. In the States we're met with water cannons.

muyuu3• 13 years ago

I guess it depends on what you're used to, but if you are a highly qualified young employee your life is pretty miserable. You make marginally more after tax and expenses (from living in the cities where qualified jobs are) over the unemployed/fraudsters living in the countryside. And you are overworked and overstressed.

For these people the best alternative is just leaving. Which paints a gloomy picture for France's future, as newer generations are brain-drained.

Subsisting is not a particularly desirable situation, and it's not sustainable when more people start jumping on the benefit bandwagon. Eventually the credit money from the ECB will run out and then you have an explosive situation in your hands.

nraynaud8• 13 years ago

I've never paid more than 12% taxes and I've always lived alone in 50-70 sq.m. apartments (actually I tend to take big stuff because I can, but when it's time to clean I hate it) . I used to eat 5 days a week at the restaurant (but I don't think it's good for my health). And I lived in Montbéliard, Besançon, and Montpellier. I think as a French software engineer I did not have bad material living conditions. And I'm far from skilled. I hired people with good salaries in Montpellier too. But there is one important thing: I move around the country when work calls for it. I don't defend my castle.

nraynaud8• 13 years ago

I'm French and I don't. I've been without a job for 8 months, and I don't feel like seeking one, so I didn't go to Kafka's administration to be treated like shit in exchange for money. I might go there if I feel like looking for a job again.

But it's true that there is a general feeling that there is something more than money to strive for in this country. That maybe this time in the sun with a beer at a terrasse where you are not raising kids or making money is not a complete improductive ritual to be eliminated, but maybe it's part of what makes a free human, time to think, relax, and exchange ideas.

virtualwhys3• 13 years ago

That is spot on, work is not the meaning of life for the French. While for others, being without work is a life without meaning.

I can't say I encounter many unemployed people in France that could in any way be called depressed.

speeder• 13 years ago

I currently live in São Paulo, Brazil...

That infamously is on several lists of one of the worst place to do business in the world (because it is first place in red tape and associated costs, also very high in corruption, tax rate, and so on...)

Yet, I've seen with my own eyes a ever bigger community of french business people here, there are LOTS of rich french, or young french, coming here and doing business here, and some of them I talked, absolutely hate Brazil (regarding business aspects, violence, and some other stuff), but imply (they never reply directly when I ask, and some get offended) that yet Brazil is still better to live than France...

This makes me believe something VERY WRONG is going on there... Usually it was the dream of Brazillians to move to France, not the opposite!

chestnut-tree2• 13 years ago

London has been called France's sixth biggest city. According to this BBC article from March 2012 there is an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 French citizens living in London. That's more than the population of Bordeaux, Nantes or Strasbourg.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18234930

msvan• 13 years ago

When I lived in China I met French people all the time; more than any other foreign nationality. I think they're all over the place.

nicolasp• 13 years ago

I know I'm rather late but I just wanted to point out that this number is likely an exaggeration. See this: http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/more-like-colmar-on-thames/

chestnut-tree2• 13 years ago

The figures for youth unemployment in Europe are shocking.

The percentage of people under the age of 25 who are unemployed:

- Greece: 62.5% - Spain: 56.4% - Portugal: 42.5% - Italy: 40.5% - Cyprus: 32.7% - Rep of Ireland: 26.6% - France: 26.5% - UK: 20.2% - Germany: 7.5% - EU average: 23.5%

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23095198

jaggederest• 13 years ago

Yes, my fundamental question about this article - where are they going to go?

It's not like there are jobs begging to be filled in other countries, barring perhaps the oilfields in North Dakota.

Proleps• 13 years ago

Yes, my fundamental question about this article - where are they going to go?

Germany, The Netherlands, Norway or Sweden. Lots of countries left where there is still work.

ignostic2• 13 years ago

For reference, the United States' "youth unemployment rate" is 22-23%.[1] And yet unemployment over the age of 25 is 6.3% and falling.[2]

One must wonder to what extent this is the fault of our economy and to what extent this is the fault of the youth themselves. I suspect a combination of both:

1.A lot of people simply don't want to hire "kids" to do anything. 2.The jobs younger people are typically trusted to do are being filled by people with more experience and more maturity.[3] 3a. The most in-demand jobs require a college education, which few 16-19 year old's have.[5,6] 3b. We've seen a cultural shift where these kids see low-skill low-pay jobs like McDonald's as being beneath them. Unfortunately, these are the only jobs for which they are qualified. Fast food service is still hiring. There are plenty of health care aide and fast food jobs available, but no one wants them.[5,6] 4.(Opinion) Gen Y has even less expectation that their children work before graduating college. The youth may say they want a job, but have little motivation.

[1] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t10.htm [2] http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/04/06/number-of-the-week... [3] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-25/why-are-so-many-col... [5] http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/Content.asp?pageid=146 [6] http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/01/art5full.pdf

steeve• 13 years ago

(French here)

Written by a guy who's never worked a day in his life, I find that article to be very funny.

French bashing is always done better by the french.

Guys, to give you a bit of context, when this guy wrote his first piece last september, the backlash was quite big (which might also explain why he never went anywhere with his campaign at the time).

To me this guy has zero credibility.

ignostic2• 13 years ago

"to give you a bit of context, when this guy wrote his first piece last september, the backlash was quite big"

I appreciate we Americans don't know everything about the system, but you added nothing to my understanding. This is from the article:

"When the journalist Mouloud Achour, the rapper Mokless and I published a column in the French daily Libération last September, arguing that France was a decrepit, overcentralized gerontocracy and that French youths should pack their bags and go find better opportunities elsewhere in the world, it caused an uproar."

We might gain something if you'd try to explain why you think the view that France is a bad place to live for the new generation.

davorak• 13 years ago

To me this guy has zero credibility.

Could you provide an example of an action or stance he takes that makes you believe this?

ronjouch2• 13 years ago

As a French citizen emigrated to Canada, that's a concern I can relate to. The best thing I found to explain what's wrong with France (to quote NYT and add a few of my own: distrust, negativism, elitism, "losing hope", "overcentralized gerontocracy") is this little book:

La société de défiance : Comment le modèle social français s'autodétruit (ISBN-10: 272880396X, ISBN-13: 978-2728803965) English Translation: The distrust society: How the French social model self-destructs http://www.amazon.fr/La-soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9-d%C3%A9fiance-fran...

Its "originality" is that, unlike articles like the one linked here, the authors support their argument with serious economical and statistical analysis.

Montréal-based HNers wanting to borrow my copy are welcome, feel free to contact me at @ronjouch

EDIT: ebook freely available here: http://www.cepremap.fr/depot/opus/OPUS09.pdf (PDF, 5MB)

gboudrias• 13 years ago

Can you tell us more?

ronjouch2• 13 years ago

I'd love to, but I read it a long time ago and I don't have the copy with me. If you can read french, I recommend this review, which is where I got word of the book:

http://econo.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...

And ooooh NICE, the review made me realize that the book is available for free as PDF :) : http://www.cepremap.fr/depot/opus/OPUS09.pdf , and I'm editing my original post.

Rexxar• 13 years ago

French youths lounging on the Champs-Élysées.

The legend of the photo of the article is ridiculous knowing there is 90% of probability that they are tourists.

aristidb• 13 years ago

Kind of curious that the article ends with mentions of Brazil and China... I think neither are the best options for young French people right now - for one, wage levels there are significantly lower than in France. Canada, USA or Northern Europe seem like better targets to me.

grantlmiller• 13 years ago

France is a good example of a country where its citizens and leaders have chosen to protect the status quo at the expense of innovation, advancement and particularly at the expense of our generation (namely those born in the 80s). This is a trend that I find is beginning to happen in the US... less productive (and more expensive) older workers are creating rules & legislation to protect themselves (unions are classic examples of this... AirBnb & Uber are constantly fighting this). We have to stand up for free markets else we'll fall victim on the road to serfdom.

nraynaud8• 13 years ago

You know, you can think that but, ITER, concorde, ariane, Airbus, M51, part of LHC, some air carriers are created partly here. It's not startuppy at all, but I would not say nothing happens. There is some kind of state driven innovation. I don't like it but it exists and gets shit done.

tzs2• 13 years ago

a youth unemployment rate of 25 percent for nearly 30

What does it ACTUALLY mean to be unemployed in France?

In the US, if I lose my job and cannot find another for a long time, here is what happens:

• I have to start paying for health insurance. This will probably be in the $500-1000/month range.

• Unemployment insurance pays me for a while.

• In a little over a year, unemployment runs out. At that point, I'll be living entirely on my savings.

• When savings run out, I lose my house. Oh, I also lose my health insurance.

• Before becoming homeless and losing most of my possessions. Hopefully, in the prior year I've been eating good healthy home-cooked food to save money, and also hitting my treadmill regularly, and so might have gotten into good enough shape to no longer need my diabetes and blood pressure medicine, since I can no longer afford them.

To sum it up, being unemployed in the US means you are majorly screwed. Our social safety nets are just not very good.

Our health insurance safety net, for instance, is the emergency room. If you show up with a life threatening condition, they are required to treat you regardless of insurance or ability to pay. They only treat you enough so that you are no longer in immediate danger, and then they can kick you out. Given the choice between providing someone with $30 worth of drugs a month that will keep their condition under control forever, or letting their condition become life threatening and treating it with a $5000 emergency room visit every 2 or 3 months to just keep them alive--the US goes with the latter. Giving them a $30/month prescription would be socialism, and we can't have that.

icelancer2• 13 years ago

That is the whole reason people are unemployed in France, you realize that, right? Incentives being what they are, and all....

sentenza2• 13 years ago

I think I have to disagree. Not knowing the specifics of French unemployment benefits, here in Germany, the situation is probably closer to that in France than that in the US. If you are unemployed, you still have health insurance, you get some money, and becoming homeless because of unemployment is basically unheard of.

So far, I have yet to meet a person that is happily unemployed here. There is a huge social stigma attached to it and people get depressed because the self-image suffers from being unemployed for longer times. Going a little bit over the top, the whole incentive argument to me sounds like this: Since being miserable does not provide the right incentives for an unemployed person to search for work, the situation must be improved by making them miserable and hungry/homeless.

arjie• 13 years ago

An interesting hypothesis. Evidence against it is that Germany has a similar net and yet unemployment amongst the youth is less than half that of America.

rtpg4• 13 years ago

Unemployed people I know do not like being unemployed. There are people who don't want to work, and are fine mooching, but it is such a small percentage that it's a cost I'm willing to pay to protect people. Complaining about those "mooching off" of the safety net is like complaining about voter fraud in the US.

cpursley• 13 years ago

Exactly. You'd think for a heavily programmer-skewed community, some users could do basic math.

theorique5• 13 years ago

Giving them a $30/month prescription would be socialism, and we can't have that.

What about Medicare and Medicaid, not to mention Medicare Schedule D? The US has lots of socialized medicine going around. (Whether that's a good or bad thing is not what I'm commenting on...)

aamar• 13 years ago

Although you address a legitimate question--how the safety net affects the unemployment market, your description of U.S. Healthcare is largely inaccurate and worth clearing up.

Since the 1980's every state in the U.S. has offered a Medicaid-funded program. These programs would almost certainly cover you in this hypothetical situation, including covering diabetes or hypertension medicine. Yes, a few politicians dislike the program and many vote against its expansion, but belying your use of the "socialism" epithet, the program is widely accepted in the U.S. and ending it is a fringe opinion.

The scenario you describe (ER's provide acute/crisis care to people who have no routine monitoring) does legitimately describe people who (a) fail to properly enroll in Medicaid, or (b) have too high an income for Medicaid but still consider insurance unaffordable. Productive work is being done to address both of these gaps, but your characterization gives the wrong impression about the current state of the safety net.

lesslaw• 13 years ago

she explicitly told the 3.6 million young unemployed people in the euro zone to be ready to move around to find work as the European Union allowed them to and the whole European project encouraged them to.

That's a great suggestion but which one of the twenty-three official languages of the European Union should I start studying ?

mynameishere2• 13 years ago

The one you apparently already know.

LaGrange• 13 years ago

A bit tangential to the point, but still: get out, wherever you live. If you have the ability (which may be non-trivial), moving country is of a huge benefit. Even if you love the place you live in, you just don't have a comparison if you haven't lived (i.e. had local friends and jobs and dealt with day to day stuff for a couple of years) somewhere else. And just the experience both makes you more interesting and helps you get the experience that makes you better at many higher-paid jobs. Also, having friends around the world can be invaluable if/once you have to get out.

doe883• 13 years ago

(French here)

Maybe I think backward, I always wanted to travel and learn from others countries and cultures. I even did an internship in the US in MV and I loved it.

But after reading this kind of article the only thing I want to do is fight for my country, I wouldn't say I'm patriot, far from it, I consider myself European first. But I don't think we're as bad as people (often ones of our owns) try to describe us. So I want to fight against the odds, against our weaknesses and yes we have a lot of things pulling us down but overall I really think there still are plenty of bright minds. I don't want to leave, I want to fight and succeed here.

spitx2• 13 years ago

Perhaps its time to heed the advice of the illustrious Christine Lagarde:

  “Il faut cesser de penser et se retrousser les manches.”

  (Roughly translated: "We must stop thinking and roll up our sleeves.")

  In proposing a tax-cut law last week, Finance Minister Christine
  Lagarde bluntly advised the French people to abandon their 
  “old national habit.”

  “France is a country that thinks,” she told the National Assembly.
  “There is hardly an ideology that we haven’t turned into a theory.
   We have in our libraries enough to talk about for centuries to 
   come. This is why I would like to tell you: Enough thinking, 
   already. Roll up your sleeves.”

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/world/europe/22france.html...

doe883• 13 years ago

Indeed, it's a very good advice and I totally agree with her statement and no doubt it must be true. But I can tell you, people I know are really too busy living their life and for instance I'm myself too busy coding or doing other stuffs to really have time to over-think about our expected downfall.

coldtea4• 13 years ago

But after reading this kind of article the only thing I want to do is fight for my country, I wouldn't say I'm patriot, far from it, I consider myself European first.

What does "European first" even mean, though? To be friendly with other European nations/cultures is one thing.

But there's no such thing as an entity called Europe that cares for all the people's in it -- E.U, for one, isn't it. The larger countries, and especially Germany, control the whole game. And the law making, representation, etc, of individual countries (and people) in E.U is opaque and authoritarian, more bureaucratic than democratic. Nothing like the US in unity, for a thing (except for the bad parts: corporations and private interests controlling legislation and such).

So, I'd say, fighting for democracy and social justice in YOUR country (France in your case) is more important, in the political sense, than any general feeling of "Europeanes".

And, sure, people can always immigrate somewhere else, especially within EU. But if that immigration is not because of personal (e.g cultural) choice, but to avoid hardships and fighting, then it's an easy cop-out -- those people are not fighters and not give a damn for their community, only for their personal well-being. And they would just as easily abandon their new host country too. Remember that in order to there be countries to immigrate to --in the first place--, there must have been people willing to stand for them and improve them.

doe883• 13 years ago

What does "European first" even mean, though? To be friendly with other European nations/cultures is one thing.

It's easy, I'm feeling myself European it might seem dumb or impossible to you but it is. I think we're very much alike, we love the same sports and take our holidays in the same places, more often than not people have ancestors from another counry in Europe (mine were from Italy). When I was young I spent holidays in Austria, Italy and Spain, I played with kids from all these countries and it never seemed we were differents. I can tell you growing up in such an environment is probably what's make me think I feel European first. I'm sorry if I don't have a better explanation for what I feel.

rtpg4• 13 years ago

What does "European first" even mean, though?

You could stand for "European" values, those shared by many countries in Europe, such as a need for a strong social safety net, importance in protection of consumer's privacy, and developing a will to work together with people sharing a different culture and (often) language.

Gmo• 13 years ago

Hey doe88,

It's probably too late for you to read this, but I just wanted, as a fellow citizen, say that I totally agree with you.

I am fed up with every article posted here painting France as the worst country that ever was and ever will be for companies or for "bright minds". That's simply not true and I also want to fight against that stigma.

As a matter of fact, after living 6 years in the Netherlands, I am now back in France, and don't mind paying my taxes (I've seen such a comment here) and no, going away is not a solution.

Cheers.

spitx2• 13 years ago

  "And then there is France. In the realms of cultural, 
  diplomatic, linguistic or economic policies, the French
  have long and eloquently insisted on their nation's 
  "exceptionalism." Yet a new form of exceptionalism, 
  no less eloquent, though far more brutal, now burdens 
  them: since 2011, France has seen at least a dozen men
  and women who have either set, or tried to set, 
  themselves aflame.

  The cradle of the Enlightenment, France now glimpses 
  a very different light, one that makes visible the 
  darkness of its economic and social malaise.

  The series of self-immolations has ranged across the
  country, from Flanders in the north through the suburbs
  of Paris to the Pyrenees in the south. No less varied 
  are the workplaces to each of these suicides: a lycée
  teacher, a carpenter, a company manager. Moreover,
  there is a mix of class and ethnic backgrounds: among 
  the victims are so-called "français de souche" (white 
  and native born French) as well as foreign nationals
  who had lived for years in France.

  Beyond the static of differences, though, one can see 
  common and disconcerting themes. In all of these cases,
  the victim was either unemployed or employed in a 
  position whose pressures ultimately grew intolerable.
  In the town of Beziers, a mathematics teacher slightly
  more than a year ago set herself on fire in the 
  school's courtyard--an "act of desperation" that 
  investigators attributed to "professional reasons." 
  Last summer in the Parisian suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie,
  an unemployed man, learning his welfare benefits had
  come to an end, immolated himself outside the local 
  unemployment office. In 2011, a France-Telecom employee
  in the southern city of Orange set a match to his 
  gasoline-drench clothing in a parking lot near his 
  office building--one among several suicides at the 
  company since it began to lay off employees in its 
  effort to restructure."

Source:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/print/2013/03/self-...

stfu• 13 years ago

One of the big "issues" about Europe were the missing mobility by its citizens. Somehow it seems that the "financial crisis" intentionally or unintentionally has positively brought change to that area.

kghose• 13 years ago

Hey folks. I have an idea. It's not particularly novel, but this article triggered the thought. Let's try an experiment. For the next month, July, let us post and promote articles that speak well of a country's systems. In every country there is something admirable and awesome about the people/culture/systems. How about we spend just a month educating ourselves about what is good in different parts of the world in the present. Just as an exercise in trying to learn from the good as well as the bad. I'll start.

France gives generous paternal benefits:

http://riviera.angloinfo.com/information/healthcare/pregnanc...

The Best Hope for France’s Young? Get Out

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