Couric, CBS Morning News touted Frances short work week, but
will they admit it failed?
When the French placed a limit on the time workers spend on the
job each week, NBCs Katie Couric was ecstatic and applauded the
additional time to shop and rest. Now that the French are rethinking
the cap, will Couric admit the plan was a total failure?
It was the closest thing to labor utopia a worker could wish for: a
light work week with a heavy salary. In 1999, that wish became a
reality when Frances Socialist government mandated a 35-hour
ceiling on the work week. The cap came without any reduction in
salary; so employees worked less without earning less. In an August
1, 2001 Today broadcast, Katie Couric claimed, prematurely,
Unemployment is down, the French economy is strong and workers are
smiling a lot more these days. An August 27, 2001 piece by Tom
Fenton of CBS Morning News shared that sentiment.
Five years later, reality has caught up to the French economy. In a
requiem for the policy in the February 9, 2005 Wall Street Journal,
Andres Cala reported, France is poised to partially roll back a law
capping the workweek at 35 hours to spur its slow-growing economy.
The purpose of the ceiling was to reduce unemployment by forcing
employers to hire more workers to cover the lost productivity. That
prediction didnt pan out for the French government or the media.
American economists said this wouldnt work and warned of stagnating
productivity. However, Katie Couric ridiculed their critique. Couric
lead into the piece: Okay, so how does this sound to you? Shorter
working hours, longer holidays and no paycuts? Economists said, 'no
way Jose or Josette,' but the French are making it work.
Keith Miller followed Couric with a report about French mothers
spending more time with their children. He continued: "With more
free time workers are rested, productivity is up and what makes it
work is flexibility. Employers and employees agree on when it is
most efficient to take time off. Sixty percent of those on the job
say their lives have improved. These American women, all working in
France, have time for lunch and a life." Clearly, Millers
implication was that the French way is better and that hard working
Americans could learn a lesson from French sophisticates.
Tom Fenton noted: Whatever the reason, the economy expanded 3.4
percent last year, while the high unemployment rate dropped from 11
percent to 9.5 percent. And since theyre paid the same for working
hours, the French are also doing more shopping and spending.
Now the French are preparing to roll back this unrealistic labor
policy. According to the Wall Street Journal, the law didnt have
the hoped-for effect. Frances unemployment has remained high -
around 10% - and productivity has declined. French executives
complain that the rule has damaged the French work ethic.
While the ceiling created a lot of tickled French workers and
American journalists, it was unrealistic. The Journal stated: Since
the workweek was capped at 35 hours in 1999, Frances productivity
per capita has decreased 4.3%... Over the same period, productivity
per capita has risen 5% in the United Kingdom and 6% in the U.S.
France tried to manipulate the labor market and failed miserably.
While economists and policy makers will take this lesson to heart,
chances are slim that the
CBS Morning News or Today will issue its own eulogy for the policy.