About time

The 35-hour working week - introduced by Lionel Jospin in France almost ten years ago - is dead. And about time too.

The policy was originally designed to help reduce historically high levels of unemployment. However, despite recent improvements in the French unemployment rate, they have remained stubbornly high - and well above the Eurozone average.

The 35 hour working week was an ill-conceived attempt to assist the French labour market. Since its inception it has repeatedly been watered down. Its failure today demonstrates that excessive regulation is not the path to rising economic growth, and does not readily help those outside the labour market.

The balance between workers' rights and the ability for employers to respond to prevailing economic factors is difficult to strike. Despite running counter to popular French opinion, the scrapping of the 35 hour working week will redress the current imbalance and should help France recover from years of sluggish growth.