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Article: A civil self-service.(France's public sector workers)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- May 1, 1999
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PARIS
ASK French parents what they would like their children to be when they grow up and many will reply, without hesitation, a fonctionnaire, a civil servant. With good reason. France has been described as a "civil servants' paradise". Not only do its 4.5m public-sector workers enjoy near-total job security; they also work shorter hours, get more pay, longer holidays, larger pensions, wider health cover, fatter bonuses and bigger perks than their counterparts in the private sector. They usually retire earlier, too. And, unlike public servants in many other countries, French bureaucrats are on the whole liked by their compatriots.
In most other ...