Study on Application of the 35-Hour Working Week and Employment Policy in France

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In 2000, aiming at creating employment, the French left-wing government reduced the maximum weekly work hours to 35. The succeeding right-wing governments, however, rejected such employment policy and implemented a series of laws promoting longer work hours, starting in 2003. The present study, by examining the data about overtime, and also analyzing the management-union agreements as well as the labor relations in the metallurgical industry and carmakers (Renault, Peugeot, Toyota France), shows that the amended laws did not generate expected effects : the firms maintained the 35-hour workweek system, because the negotiations for its implementation had generated management-union trust and brought about flexibility of organizing their work hours.