The Economist's thoughts on the Paris riots

 
Although the riots in Paris are far from resolved I believe the coverage of the recent events are well summarized and analyzed in this week's edition of the Economist.

Particularly the magazine's leader is a good read and I agree with the major points. "A much greater contributor than Islam to the malaise in the suburbs is the lack of jobs." See article here (non-walled article). I think this is a point very well made. The structural uemployment rate in France of almost 10% is is a problem which affects the Paris suburbs particularly hard.

"The main answer is that the French labour market is throttled by restrictions such as the 35-hour week, a high minimum wage, and tough hiring and firing rules."

As I have reported before the 35 hour working week is cutting rather than creating jobs. The Economist's special report (walled for non-subscribers) digs deeper into the analysis - 

"For all young people in France these days, proper jobs are scarce (...) The reason is what economists call an “insider-outsider” labour market: full-time permanent jobs are so protected by law that employers try not to create many, preferring instead temporary workers or interns whom they can shed more easily when times get tough."

The blogosphere has been swarming with post about the riots and on Technorati the events in France have been on the top 5 list for over a week ... I can particularly point to the Fistful of Euros which have had a good coverage of the riots.