The answer is that while the socialists can't fully resist the urge to meddle, in some important areas they have managed to look the other way and let markets function in some semblance of a rational manner. Also, the competitive pressures of the European Union have led them to relax some restrictions. Observers report that new regulations have brought surprising flexibility to France's labor market, despite the government's controversial directive that will drop the legal workweek to 35 hours from 39 hours starting in January. The privatization wave begun under prior center-right administrations has been allowed to continue. Meanwhile, the strict labor laws that are an important reason French unemployment has remained so high have been loosened.
Firms have greater leeway to employ people on a temporary basis.
The companies will be free to let some of these workers go if the economy turns sour. Half of all jobs held by workers under 25 are classified as temporary. Such changes have allowed the service sector to add half a million jobs in the past three years. That has cut unemployment by more than a percentage point, to 11 percent.