The State as the Employer of last Resort

Cédric Durand

Dany Lang

The great recession the rich economies entered in 2007 has turned into social devastation in Europe. In France, there is every reason to despair the new rulers holding the reins since June 2012; indeed, the abandonment of workers’ collectives to their fate after half-hearted threats of nationalisation is only the tip of the iceberg. Policies implemented by François Hollande’s government include budgetary austerity on a scale unprecedented since World War II (60 billion euros’ worth of cuts planned over five years), the institutionalising of the European “golden rule” which limits structural deficits to 0.5% of GDP, a “competitiveness” plan which offers firms €20bn in tax credits (€7bn of which are to be funded by a VAT increase) without any counterpart, and the transposition into law of an agreement reached between employers’ organisations and minority trade unions aimed at increasing dramatically external number flexibility on the “labour market”. This profoundly neoliberal orientation is based on choices that need to be analysed.