Last fall French cities blazed with the light of burning cars. This spring they are snarled by demonstrations against the First Job Contract law, a baby step by the government in the direction of freeing up the labor market. The two episodes of unrest are related. What underlay the riots six months ago, besides Islamist bigotry, was the anomie of slum kids who have nothing to do (French unemployment stands at 9.6 percent, 22.2 percent for people under 25). The reason jobs are scarce is that they come so barnacled with benefits that employers will not hand them out to beginners. The proposed new law sought to encourage hiring by making firing easier during the first two years of work. But students, dreaming of lifetime berths, angrily denounced the measure, while labor unions piled on. L'etat, c'est radicals defending the status quo.
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