France ÉcoScan — analyses
Public economic analyses
Public · readable in full without an account
Thirteen analyses of the French economy, readable in full without an account. Each asks a single question — debt and deficit, rates, inflation, the minimum wage, employment, business failures, industry, housing, electricity, the Livret A, poverty — and answers it with several identified public series, checked against their producer and frozen on a stated date.
They are written for anyone who wants to understand a figure from public debate without being an economist: each page says what the data show, what has changed, what can be linked and what cannot be claimed, and names the source of every figure.
- Public financesPublic · readable in full without an account
Public debt and deficit: what one says about the other
Why does debt not rise by exactly the sum of deficits, and what is debt per head worth?
Series · Public Debt · Public Debt (% GDP) · Public Deficit · Public Deficit (% GDP) · Debt per Capita (€) · France GDP (Bn €) · Population
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Public financesPublic · readable in full without an account
What rising rates change about the cost of French debt
The ten-year yield went below zero, then above three per cent: when and how does that pass through to the cost of debt?
Series · 10-year OAT yield, annual average (%) · Public Debt · Public Debt (% GDP) · GDP Growth (%) · Inflation · France GDP (Bn €)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Public financesPublic · readable in full without an account
Does inflation really lighten public debt?
Why did the debt ratio fall from 2020 to 2023 without a euro being repaid, then rise again?
Series · Public Debt (% GDP) · Public Debt · Inflation · France GDP (Bn €) · GDP Growth (%) · Cumulative Consumer Prices (1990=100) · Public Deficit (% GDP)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Purchasing power and inequalityPublic · readable in full without an account
Does the French minimum wage keep up with inflation?
How is the minimum wage uprated, and has it kept pace with prices since 1991?
Series · Hourly minimum wage (SMIC), gross · Monthly net minimum wage (annual average) · Inflation · Prices for low-income households — bottom quintile (2025 = 100) · Blue-collar basic hourly wage (2000 = 100) · Cumulative Consumer Prices (1990=100) · Consumer prices excluding tobacco (2025 = 100)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Employment and wagesPublic · readable in full without an account
Does France need growth to bring unemployment down?
Is there a growth threshold below which unemployment rises?
Series · Unemployment rate (ILO) · Unemployment (ILO definition) · GDP Growth (%) · Employment Rate (15-64, %) · Inflation
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Employment and wagesPublic · readable in full without an account
Record employment rate: youth, seniors, and what it hides
The employment rate of 15-64 year-olds has never been so high: where does the rise come from, and what does it not say?
Series · Employment Rate (15-64, %) · Senior Employment Rate (55-64, %) · Youth Employment Rate (15-24, %) · Unemployment (ILO definition)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Business and investmentPublic · readable in full without an account
Business failures in France: catch-up or deterioration?
A record number of failures in 2025: catch-up after the 2020-2021 freeze, or a weakening productive fabric?
Series · Bankruptcies · Business Creations · Micro-entrepreneurs — registrations · Non-financial corporations' margin rate (%) · Business gross fixed capital formation (% of GDP) · GDP Growth (%) · Active enterprises
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Industry and foreign tradePublic · readable in full without an account
Is France still deindustrialising?
Industry's share has fallen since 1981: a composition effect or a fall in volumes, and what is the 2023 series break worth?
Series · Industry Share of GDP (%) · Car production (volume index) · Balance of trade in goods · EUR/USD Parity
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Housing and propertyPublic · readable in full without an account
Are French home prices really falling?
After the 2022 peak, where are existing-home prices, and what does the mortgage rate say?
Series · Second-Hand Dwelling Prices (Index) · Second-Hand Flat Prices (Index) · Second-Hand House Prices (Index) · Property Price Index · Mortgage Rate (%) · Inflation · Cumulative Consumer Prices (1990=100)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Housing and propertyPublic · readable in full without an account
Why France stopped building: rates, costs or land?
Housing starts are at their lowest since 2000: is credit enough to explain it?
Series · Housing Starts (k) · Mortgage Rate (%) · Livret A Rate (%) · Second-Hand Dwelling Prices (Index)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Energy and climatePublic · readable in full without an account
Electricity prices in France: households, industry, the European market
What does a kilowatt-hour cost households and businesses, and why the European wholesale price is not the French bill?
Series · Elec Price Households · Electricity price, businesses · Industry Share of GDP (%) · Inflation · Cumulative Consumer Prices (1990=100)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Savings and financingPublic · readable in full without an account
Does the Livret A protect savings from inflation?
Since 1991, in how many years has the Livret A rate been below inflation?
Series · Livret A Rate (%) · Inflation · Household Savings Rate (%) · Social Levies on Financial Placements (%)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis → - Purchasing power and inequalityPublic · readable in full without an account
Why poverty rises while employment rises
How does the number of people below the poverty line rise when unemployment returns to its starting point?
Series · People in Poverty (M) · Gini Index (Inequality) · Unemployment (ILO definition) · Employment Rate (15-64, %) · Inflation · Prices for low-income households — bottom quintile (2025 = 100) · Social protection — government expenditure (% GDP) · Population · Consumer prices excluding tobacco (2025 = 100)
Version 2026.1 · data as of 30 September 2026Read the analysis →