The current economic situation in France, which needs to be discussed in detail in this paper, is described in the news articles published in January 2019. The focus should be on analyzing such issues influencing the economic stability in the state as the problem of unemployment, changes in the unemployment rate, as well as changes in the inflation rate. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the recent economic data found in the news articles is correlated with the previous research on the topic. This paper also examines the mentioned economic concepts in the context of the present-day situation in France.
The previous research on the economic development of France has demonstrated that the country’s unemployment rate is continuously falling, indicating positive changes in both economic and social spheres. In addition, it has been found that the inflation rate tends to rise in France. The information retrieved from the recent articles on the situation in the country supports the previous findings on the unemployment rate.
According to Thomas (2019), at the end of 2018, the unemployment rate fell from more than 9% to 8.8%. This rate is discussed as the lowest one since the figure observed in 2009 (Thomas, 2019). Regardless of this positive change, the social unrest associated with the protests of Yellow Vests indicates the problem in economic and social spheres because protesters represent the views of unemployed and poor people in France.
The creation of many new job positions seems to be not enough in order to address the disparity observed between the wealthy and poor people in France. According to Chhor (2019), wages in France are lower than average wages in other European countries, and many citizens suffer from poverty. In addition, the unemployment rate of about 9% is comparably high while speaking about the rate in other countries in the European Union (6.7% on average) (Chhor, 2019). Therefore, changes in the rate reported for 2018 do not seem to influence the overall economic situation in the country.
It is also important to refer to the issue of changes in the country’s inflation rate. The sources used for conducting the previous research on France indicated that the inflation rate was growing. Nevertheless, Hodgson (2019) reported other findings on this issue and stated that inflation in France tended to decrease in spite of increases in food prices. It is explained in the article that the decreases in the inflation rate were associated with changes in prices set in the country’s energy sector. Furthermore, it is necessary to state that the prices in the tobacco sector were also reduced (Hodgson, 2019). One should note that these changes slightly influenced the overall inflation rate, leading to its further decrease.
The analysis of the information that was provided in the recent news articles on France and its economics has allowed for identifying the current trends related to the employment and inflation rates. Although the authors report changes that can be viewed as positive for the economic situation in France, it seems that they cannot directly address the current social instability observed in the country. However, it is important to note that the steps taken by the government to improve the economic sphere can potentially lead to resolving the social crisis that has revealed a range of economic problems.
References
Chhor, K. (2019). Yellow Vests: Are France’s working poor being left behind? Web.
Hodgson, C. (2019). French December slowdown worse than initially thought – PMI. The Financial Times. Web.
Thomas, L. (2019). French jobless rate falls to near 10-year low. Reuters. Web.