"While France undoubtedly has problems, it is not clear that they are more severe than those facing other countries, like the United States. For example, while its overall employment to population ratio is somewhat lower than in the United States, this is entirely due to the fact that younger people and older people are less likely to work in France than in the United States. Its employment rate for prime age workers is actually 5 percentage points higher than in the United States."

- http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/the-nyt-doesnt-like-the-french-welfare-state