Study appears to boost Leftist claims of ‘right to idleness’ as French happy to earn less for more leisure time
Well-known for their marathon holidays, long lunches and 35-hour working week, the French have long basked in the enviable image of enjoying life’s pleasures while, somehow, getting the job done.
But the Covid pandemic has taken the French view of a proper work-life balance to new extremes, with a new study claiming that France is now mired in a “laziness epidemic” in which swathes of the country say they’ve lost the will to work hard, go out or even socialise.
Many people in France are quite happy to work fewer hours even if that means earning less money, according to findings by Ifop and the Jean-Jaurès foundation.
In 1990, some 60 per cent of French people said work was “very important” in their life, compared to 31 per cent for leisure. Today, those who view work as a high priority has plummeted to 24 per cent while 41 per cent view leisure as very important.