Dor almost fifty years and the end of the “thirty glorious years”, purchasing power, under this name or another, has been at the heart of French concerns and therefore of presidential election campaigns. Thus, François Mitterrand won in 1981 on a program for a better distribution of wealth, Jacques Chirac in 1995 on the reduction of the social divide, Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 on the ” Work more to earn more “. In 2017, Emmanuel Macron’s promise to abolish the housing tax weighed in his election.
The feeling of economic insecurity, whether based on facts or beliefs, has been deeply rooted since the first oil shock of 1973, which was also a shock to mentalities. The French have gone from a certain certainty in the growth of their purchasing power to a certain uncertainty, in particular in the modest and middle classes, the most affected by the crises. The fear of not finishing the end of the month must be heard, to explain and reassure when it is based on beliefs (such as the fear of an explosion in prices during the switch from the franc to the euro) and to deal with it the root by real transformations, when it results from established facts.
Promote job creation
A lasting increase in purchasing power, that is to say one that is not reversible for workers, is more related to an increase in income, which is both satisfactory for employees and can be financed by business leaders and the State. employer, than an artificial drop in prices through subsidies and emergency aid.
The most effective way to sustainably develop one’s income is first to have a job, the only active factor in creating value. And, then, to negotiate the sharing of the value thus created, with the State for civil servants and with business leaders for private sector employees.
Public policies must therefore promote job creation, the levers of labor productivity such as learning, vocational training and innovation, but also wage negotiation. Going in this direction, for example, are the national plans for industrial reconquest in growth sectors (hydrogen, agri-food, aeronautics, etc.), the pressure put on the professional branches to negotiate with their unions bearable wage increases, the tax exemption of bonuses profit-sharing schemes, financial aid for companies that set up ambitious profit-sharing schemes or invest in learning, training and innovation.
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