journal of european integration history revue d'histoire de l ...

96
Lise Rye Svartvatn
searchlight. France’s problem was that the country’s industrial sector was relatively
small and unproductive. This has been explained by the fact that no net investments
had taken place in the period from 1930 to 1945. Low productivity and lack of
competitive power has also been traced back to the 1931 sterling devaluation and
the introduction of a preferential tariff within the British Empire. These steps augmented
France’s trade with its own empire. 59 Since the French Empire was undeveloped
and not able to compete in a free market, this trade had been highly protected.
Due to the protection, structural changes that competition otherwise would
have provoked, such as the merger of small firms into larger units, had not taken
place. 60 France in the mid-fifties was still protectionist. According to the Foreign
Ministry, economic circles took little interest in exports. Quotas were kept up not
only for balance of payment-reasons, but also due to the will, justified or not, to
protect. 61 The fact that France managed to keep its trade on the present level of liberalization
was attributed to the system of import taxes and export aid. 62
In 1956 the ILO published an investigation into the cost of labour that showed that
wage costs and obligatory social charges in France were higher than in Germany.
Table 2: Average hourly earnings, obligatory social charges and
cost of days off with pay 63
Average hourly earnings,
1954
Obligatory
social
charges
expressed
as percentage
of
asseable
wages at
01.01.1956
Cost to employers
of days off
with pay as percentage
of
wages, 1952-53
Wages + obl.
social charges +
cost of days off
with pay. Indices:
Switzerland
=100
In Swiss
francs
Indices:
Switzerland
= 100
France 1.88 73 29.8 7.2 92
Germany 1.74 68 11.7 9.8 75
However, the ILO investigation did not take account of private agreements between
undertakings and trade unions that, unlike in France, constituted a considera-
59. In the constitution of 1946 the term “empire” was replaced by the term “union”.
60. F. M. B. LYNCH, France and the International Economy …, op.cit., Conclusion.
61. DDF 1956, I, no.265, Note de la Direction générale des Affaires économiques et financières, 21.04.1956.
62. DDF 1956, I, no.67, Note de la Direction générale des Affaires économiques et financières,
02.02.1956.
63. Source: International Labour Office: Social Aspects of European Economic Co-operation. Report
by a Group of Experts, Geneva 1956, p.33. Since the three sets of data related to different dates,
the ILO emphasized that the aggregates were approximations. It was considered unlikely that this
affected the relative magnitude in any substantial degree.