In France, over 50% of the working population are fonctionnaires (civil servants), if the unions and labour laws weren't as inflexible as they are, this figure would be a lot less and the unemployment numbers would rise accordingly. You might say that the current state of affairs is preferable to that but the problem is that France is slowly choking to death and faces huge structural problemls in the near future.
The public sector has massive unfunded pension liabilities (because virtually all of France works partly or fully on the "black" due to the crippling tax regime) and the young working population are shut out from the majority of higher paying professional jobs as these are all occupied by unsackable (often unionised) career workers that still expect a job for life. Meritocracy plays second fiddle to who you know and what connections your family has.
The public sector has massive unfunded pension liabilities (because virtually all of France works partly or fully on the "black" due to the crippling tax regime) and the young working population are shut out from the majority of higher paying professional jobs as these are all occupied by unsackable (often unionised) career workers that still expect a job for life. Meritocracy plays second fiddle to who you know and what connections your family has.