Working a Oui Bit More

France moves to dismantle its 35 hour work week, giving the French even less time for personal hygiene.

Heated debate over dismantling the working time law has fed into wider political and literary soul-searching in France, on themes ranging from the country's economic frailty and bureaucratic office culture to whether quality of life should be measured in time or money.

For Sophie Guilbaud, a Parisian who works as a loan company manager, that last question is a no-brainer.

"Work is not the only thing in my life," she said, suggesting she might quit rather than work more hours.

With France’s unemployment benefits almost equal to actually working, why would you want to work? Get yourself a nice job, then quit. Let the poor slobs who actually choose to work bear the burden of your indolence. Of course with a decreasing labor base, you will eventually have to raise taxes to support the idle, and eventually you make more money by not working. Thus giving the jobless more time for café au lait and quiche.

But with unemployment at 10 percent, politicians of all stripes acknowledge that the country's unique 35-hour law has failed in its original ambition: to force employers to hire massively. What's more, there are strong signs that it hurt living standards as employers froze salaries to make up for lost labor.

"The intention was to spread work around, but the effect was to spread our salaries around," Thierry Breton, France's new finance minister, said last week.

A government-backed bill that effectively restores the previous 39-hour workweek is expected to win final approval this week, despite massive public protests earlier this month and denunciations by the now out-of-power Socialists.

Go figure another socialist reform failed. But there’s more:

Often touted as the working mother's godsend, the 35-hour week actually made life harder for poorer women and single parents, according to women's organization CLEF.

"The women that suffered were the lowest paid, who needed all the overtime they could get to make ends meet," said CLEF president Monique Halpern. "I think this is one of the reasons that [Former Socialist Prime Minister] Lionel Jospin lost the elections."

Of course American liberals think it’s because France’s voters are stupid. Yes, believe it or not, Jospin lost to Jean-Pierre Raffarin and the UMP, France’s… (gasp) right-wing party. Of course, France’s idea of right-wing is Howard Dean.

Last year, a parliamentary committee reported that the 35-hour week cost France more than $13 billion a year, casting doubt on a labor ministry study that suggested it had created 350,000 jobs between 1998 and 2002.

But Nicolas Sarkozy, who pushed hard for the law to be loosened while serving as finance minister last year and is expected to one day run for president, has no regrets.

"It's wonderful to see so many people marching to defend the jobs they already have, pushing aside so many others who would also like the chance to have a job," he said.

See, not everyone in France is, as they say “trés stupid”.