On the RFI English website, an article titled: Are the French a Bunch of Lazy Slackers
Some bits from that article:
Under Strikes, the article states that no, France is not the leader of strikes, that award goes to Canada, and Denmark just had a bad strike worse than the French so the French can't be too bad, except throwing those bits into the argument don't change the fact that according to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living Conditions - France topped the list for number and length of strikes for 2005-2009.
Hours worked is AMAZING. The AVERAGE French worker works 1453 hours a year. Which doesn't mean much to us unless we do a weekly average - 27 hours a week.
Life is hard!
Retirement is confusing. Presently they may retire at 60, down from 65 in 1982. Work 27 hrs a week on average and retire at 60. Life is hard. The article goes on to confuse things a bit by stating that "At present French women can retire at the same age as women in Italy, South Korea, Hungary, the UK, Greece and Poland but earlier than Turks and Czechs. Men have the lowest minimum retirement age in the OECD. The government's proposals will bring them in line with Czechs and Hungarians and raise the age that retirees can claim the full pension to 67, provided they have paid over 40 years of contributions."
However, other statements on this issue present a different picture - that the government wants to raise the retirement age to 62 when benefits are first collected, from 60. Changing the full benefits realized at 65 to 67. Basically increasing it by 2 years, not 7, as the article implies.
Lazy Slackers.
lazy
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