Paul Krugman:-

"To begin, while France gets an amazing amount of bad press - much of it coming from ideologues who insist that generous welfare states must have disastrous effects - it’s actually a fairly successful economy. Believe it or not, French adults in their prime working years (25 to 54) are substantially more likely than their U.S. counterparts to be gainfully employed.

"They’re also just about equally productive. It’s true that the French overall produce about a quarter less per person then we do in the U.S. - but that’s mainly because they take more vacations and retire younger, which are not obviously terrible things. 

.....ctd