Background for France

Economic and labour market context

In 2022, gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.5%, after a 6.4% increase in 2021. Purchasing power per consumption unit fell by 0.3% in 2022. In 2020, the average monthly full-time equivalent wage in the private sector was €2,520, net of social security contributions. In constant euro – that is, adjusted for inflation – it rose by an average of 1.4% a year from 2015 to 2022. In 2022, 73.6% of people aged between 15 and 64 in France were in work. The average employment rate differs according to age: it is 42.2% for 15- to 24-year-olds, 88.3% for 25- to 49-year-olds and 69.7% for 50- to 64-year-olds. By the end of 2021, 29.9 million people were in employment. Employment was up by 1,115,000 compared with the end of 2020, or 3.9%, and continued to increase in 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, the unemployment rate in France (excluding Mayotte) reached 7.1% of the working age population, a historically low level. The unemployment rate for young people aged 15–24 reached 17.3% in 2022, compared with 6.6% for those aged 25–49 and 5.2% for those aged 50 or over.

Legal context

All labour legislation, including regulations regarding employer representation, trade union representation and collective bargaining, is integrated into the Labour Code.

Since 2015, the Labour Code has changed significantly, with the paramount reform being the introduction of the law concerning employment and social dialogue. The aim of Law No. 2015-994 of 17 August 2015 is to simplify the organisation of information and consultation bodies and to ensure the representation of employees working in companies with fewer than 11 workers. Labour law was significantly reformed in November 2015. The reform (implemented through Law 2016-1088 of 8 August 2016) contains new and important rules on working time that give precedence to company-level agreements over sector-level ones.

Furthermore, the government adopted a major labour law reform through five ordinances enacted on 22 September 2017. This was the first step in a massive reform of the labour market. The second step was initiated in August 2018, with the implementation of Law No. 2018-771 of 5 September 2018 on the freedom to choose one’s professional future. This law covers many areas, from vocational training and apprenticeships to gender equality and the posting of workers. It paved the way for the reform of the unemployment insurance system adopted in 2019.

Industrial relations context

French industrial relations have always been tense and dominated by the strong involvement of the state and the law. In 1884, freedom of association was recognised in law, and the first laws related to collective bargaining were approved in 1919. A first step towards generalising and extending coverage of these laws was achieved by law in 1950, establishing the sectoral level as the main level of bargaining. In 1971, collective bargaining at intersectoral (cross-industry) level was also established. Finally, the Auroux laws of 1982 facilitated collective bargaining at workplace or company level, and established an annual obligation to negotiate wages and working time.

There is a traditional lack of mutual recognition between the social partners that could explain the interventionist role of the state in industrial and social matters, but many changes have taken place in the last 30 years.

In recent decades, a decentralised bargaining system has been developed, giving companies more autonomy from both labour legislation and national/sectoral collective agreements.

In addition, two reforms introduced by law in the 2000s were significant, leading to profound upheavals in the French industrial relations system: a reform of collective bargaining in 2004 and a reform of the principles governing the representativeness of trade unions in 2008. In 2015, a new reform introduced changes to social dialogue in the workplace. In 2016, an important labour law reform increased the decentralisation of collective bargaining, giving more weight to social dialogue at company level. Decentralisation was also strengthened by the labour law reform of 2017.

Current French industrial relations are marked by a lack of autonomy of the social partners at cross-industry level, in relation to the government. The government invites them to negotiate reforms that fall within their remit by sending them letters setting out the objectives to be achieved and the budgets to be respected. Discussions between the social partners thus take place under certain constraints, with the threat of legislative intervention if an agreement is not reached (referred to as ‘bargaining in the shadow of the law’). However, the social partners also try to pursue their own agendas, by adopting national interprofessional agreements. In 2022, for example, they adopted an agreement ‘for an ambitious paritarian system tailored to the challenges of a world of work undergoing profound change’ (Légifrance, undated), followed in 2023 by an agreement on the green transition and social dialogue, and another on the reform of the sector of the social security system dealing with occupational injury and disease.