Macron Can Follow Germany's Lead on Labor Reform

The German economy is in a remarkably rosy phase. According to data published on Monday by the Ifo Institute, business confidence is at a record high since 1991. The Bundesbank has raised its growth forecasts through 2019. One of the reasons for this surge of optimism is that the German labor market is performing well. At 3.9 percent, the unemployment rate is lower than it has been since the country's reunification.

It's often said that to achieve the same kind of economic buoyancy, France needs to relax its fearsome labor laws in the same way as Germany did in the early 2000s, under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. French President Emmanuel Macron's plans for labor reform, however, bear little resemblance to the 2003 Hartz reforms in Germany, named after Peter Hartz, the former personnel director of Volkswagen, who headed the commission that worked on the legislation.