Globalization is the interdependence of countries on one another for trade and exchange of various things. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it has turned quite catastrophic for France.
There was a time when famous multinational companies used to have their setups in France also, and these setups would automatically open a lot of job opportunities. In 2017, President Emmanuel Macron took an oath that he would strive to bring more and more manufactures and big companies to France so that the French citizens are never lacking the chances of jobs in their country. Besides, he planned to increase the number of products with the label ‘Made in France,’ which was a good thought. However, it did not happen as he had planned.
Coronavirus pandemic did not just affect the financial situation, but it also led companies to start relocating to other regions besides France that have low labor costs.
This is not a new phenomenon though. For many years now, various companies have raised this issue that French workers work for 32 hours a week but they charge a lot of money in comparison to other countries like Spain, Poland, India, etc. where the workers agree to work for 37 hours a week at way lower charges.
However, President Emmanuel Macron and his government were pretty optimistic to change this phenomenon, but 2020 happened, and it brought the Coronavirus pandemic with it. Now, the French government was still hopeful that the pandemic would perhaps work in the favor of France, but unfortunately, the opposite happened. The government was hoping to get an opportunity to secure supply chains and prevent the companies from moving their production lines to other countries that charge less labor fee.
However, the companies that were just thinking about relocation have now begun acting on their thoughts.
Nokia is a Finnish telecommunications company, and it has started moving its research and development lines from France to India and Poland. This will leave 1000 French people out of their jobs in a jiffy!
Bridgestone, the Japanese tire making factory is shutting its set up in Northern France and moving to Eastern Europe because of the same reason. This will leave around 850 plus people out of job.
In the South of France, an inflatable boat making company called Zodiac is also relocating its business to Tunisia to cut extra costs.
The government is quite frantic about this situation. The finance and economy minister, Bruno Le Maire has pledged to invest around 1 billion euro to subsidize jobs at pharmaceutical and electronics corporations, and in some other companies who are willing to produce strategic consumer goods in France only. So far, around thirty-one French companies have agreed to pitch in 140 million euros to help in subsidizing some important companies producing pharmaceuticals, electronics, and consumer goods. This approach will create almost 1800 job opportunities for the French people, but it is not known when exactly the hiring will begin. Although, multinational companies are still in a dilemma whether to reverse their decisions or not!
The coronavirus pandemic has made France brutally aware of their vulnerabilities and the need to take immediate steps to ensure that from an industrialized country, it does not become un-industrialized.
The secretary of state for economy and finance, Agnès Pannier-Runacher has claimed that the pandemic made them aware of their standing, and the urgency of the matter to find some solutions for it. After all, it is very important for them that France becomes a great productive nation once again!
Ernst & Young’s recent survey finds that only 37% of businesses are even thinking to bring their production services back to Europe.
In May, a survey suggested that around 83% of business leaders were interested to bring their production lines back to Europe. However, a recent survey suggests a much lower percentage of business leaders interested in doing so. Ernst & Young suggests that this means these businesses are greatly affected by the pandemic and now that they are trying to revive and survive this crisis, they are not at all interested to disrupt their supply chain again.
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
