ersified industrial base and substantial agricultural resources. Industry generates one-quarter of GDP and more than 80% of export earnings (French Economy). The government retains considerable influence over key segments of each sector, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, and telecommunication firms. It has been gradually relaxing its control over these sectors since the early 1990s. The government is slowly selling off its holdings in France Telecom, in Air France, and in the insurance, banking, and defense industries. Meanwhile, large tracts of fertile land, the application of modern technology, and subsidies have combined to make France the leading agricultural producer in Western Europe. A major exporter of wheat and dairy products, France is practically self-sufficient in agriculture. The economy expanded by 3% in 1998, following a 2.3% gain in 1997 (French Economy). Persistently high unemployment still poses a major problem for the government. France has shied away from cutting exceptionally generous social welfare benefits or the enormous state bureaucracy, preferring to pare defense spending and raise taxes to keep the deficit down. The JOSPIN administration is preparing to both lower unemployment and trim spending, pinning its hopes for new jobs on economic growth and on legislation to gradually reduce the workweek from 39 to 35 hours by 2002 (French Economy). ManufacturingIn the early 1990s, manufacturing employed between 20% and 25% of the labor force (Country Reports). The principal industrial concentrations are around Paris, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Lorraine coalfields, in the Lyon and Saint-tienne complex of the Rhne valley, and in the new industrial centers that have emerged in the English Channel ports of Dunkerque and the Mediterranean industrial complex at Fos because of the use of imported raw materials. Many French business enterprises are small to moderate in size, although the competiti...
