However, if Jospin fails to ease unemployment and poverty, it will work against him politically. More than 3 million people are unemployed in France, with an unemployment rate of 12.4 percent, and a third have been jobless for more than a year. Youth unemployment is especially severe, reaching as high as 30 percent in some parts of France. A day of national strikes and demonstrations in favor of the unemployed occupiers has been called for next week. Polls show more than 60 percent of the French favor their cause.
Angry demonstrations are a French tradition.
But less than a year after he gained office, the country was rent by transport strikes that brought Paris to a halt. By last spring, the center-right Chirac had been weakened by the election of a Socialist government. Now it is Jospin's turn to deal with these outbursts of violence and protest. He has said little about the car burnings and the bonus demands, although Labor Ministry officials point out that he has increased aid for those unemployed the longest and plans to propose reforms for France's vast welfare system this spring. In addition, his government has proposed new measures on youth crime and delinquency.