French workers put in more time on the job than their German counterparts in 2024—an eye-catching data point in a country long associated with the 35-hour workweek. Eurostat and the economic research group Rexecode put the average annual hours worked per employed person at 1,595 in France, compared with 1,539 in Germany.
But the headline number doesn’t tell the whole story. As Serge Guérin, a sociologist and professor at Inseec GE, and Vincent Touzé, an economist and research director at OFCE-Sciences Po Paris, put it, “the picture needs more nuance and the reality appears more complex.” Their bottom line: more hours don’t automatically translate into stronger economic performance.
That tension is playing out in Hauts-de-France, the industrial region in northern France that includes cities such as Amiens, Douai and Compiègne. The area is cited among the parts of the country where employees show some of the highest levels of professional engagement, and those cities have appeared in Le Parisien rankings of places where it’s good to live and work—signs of a regional appeal that has built over time.
Hauts-de-France job market holds up better than the national trend
In a national economy that has lost momentum, Hauts-de-France is posting comparatively sturdier labor-market numbers. The region’s “access to employment” rate reached 38.5% in 2025—0.4 percentage point above the national average.
Employee headcount in the region rose 0.2% over the same period, while the national figure fell 0.3%. The gains are modest, but they stand out against broader weakness elsewhere in France.
At the macro level, France’s economy stalled in early 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, GDP was flat (0%) after growing 0.2% the previous quarter, according to Insee, France’s national statistics agency. Household consumption slipped 0.1%, investment fell 0.4%, and exports dropped 3.8%.
Consumer sentiment also deteriorated sharply. France’s household confidence indicator fell to 84 in April 2026, down 5 points—the steepest drop since March 2022.
More hours worked doesn’t mean higher productivity
The gap between hours worked and productivity remains a central weakness in France’s economic performance. Working 56 more hours per year than Germans doesn’t create a competitive edge if the value produced per hour remains lower.
That is the point Guérin and Touzé emphasize: behind the seemingly strong volume of hours worked, the reality is “much less favorable to France.”
Industry highlights the strain. An Ifop survey conducted for France’s industrial sector found that 52.4% of engineers surveyed cited competitiveness against international competition as the No. 1 challenge. Another 43% said recruiting and training skilled workers was the second most urgent issue.
In Hauts-de-France—home to a deep industrial tradition—the question of passing on skills takes on added urgency as retirements accelerate in the sector.
Regional attractiveness is rising, but converting it into growth remains the challenge
Le Parisien’s ranking of cities where it’s good to live and work places several Hauts-de-France communities in a strong position. That growing appeal is drawing workers looking for a balance of cost of living, job quality and lifestyle—an argument the region can make against the housing pressure of Île-de-France, the greater Paris region.
Still, high employee engagement on its own can’t offset structural vulnerabilities that the 2026 economic backdrop is exposing. With domestic demand weakening nationally and companies hesitating to invest, Hauts-de-France has a mobilized workforce—but turning that human capital into durable growth will depend heavily on economic policy choices in the coming months, as attention builds toward the 2027 presidential election, which the article says is already drawing around 30 candidates.
