Much of the August decline in French industrial activity is made up by increased production in the months when everyone is working-but not all. The total value of exports fell from 72.7 billion francs worth in July to 57.9 billion francs worth in August. Production of paper and carton boxes dropped from 555,360 tons in July to 214,630 tons in August. Pottery output dropped from 8,498 tons in July to 1,590 tons in August. In 1984, for example, the index of industrial production dropped from 120 in July to 86 for August.Īutomobile production fell from 252,700 cars in July to 90,500 in August.

Statistics make it clear that the French custom of vacationing at the same time hurts the economy. In France, September is treated much like the beginning of a new year. “The rentree,” wrote Michel Noblecourt of the newspaper Le Monde, “is traditionally the moment when labor unions try to awaken the ardor of their militants.” The Communist trade union federation, he reported, is planning a tough “rentree” this year. Leading political figures hold “rentree” receptions to meet with the press. But in France it covers virtually everyone. Holidays in August are so standard that the French have a special, almost official way of describing their return to work in September: la rentree, which means “the return” or, literally, “the re-entry.” This is much like “back-to-school” days for students in the United States.

With little to do, they sometimes take a good part of the day off. Since so many businesses shut down, officials at work find it nearly impossible to reach any one outside their own offices. Some Parisians confide that working in August brings them a bonus: It’s something like an extra vacation. The city suspends the usual charge for parking on the streets. The tourist trade is just too lucrative to give up.Īnd for residents remaining in Paris, there are a number of advantages. Almost all the shops, restaurants and bars in the city’s major tourist centers-such as the Champs Elysees, the area of the Pompidou Center and the streets near Notre Dame-stay open. The woman in quest of the paper hesitated, started to follow the man’s advice, then changed her mind and headed off to another neighborhood. Another woman suggested she head two blocks back and turn to the left. A man suggested that she head two blocks forward and turn to the left. Parisians left behind continually complain that they can’t find a newspaper stand, a dry cleaner or a hair dresser open during this period, the time of the conge annuel- the yearly holiday.Ī few days ago, a woman stood in front of a closed news and magazine shop and asked passers-by if they knew where she could buy a newspaper. Tourists fill some but not all of the room in the cities.Īnxious for a vacation themselves and serving fewer people every day, many Parisian shopkeepers close in August and follow their customers to the beaches. The holidays in August set off an exodus that denudes the large cities like Paris of many of their usual residents and swells the population of beach resorts, such as Deauville on the Normandy coast, to more than four times their winter size. “Sex is not the only thing in life,” their billboards say. They want their compatriots to produce more babies. This is not true this year, however, for the heads of three advertising companies have decided to use 9,000 empty billboards to promote a favorite cause. The economy of France is so lethargic in August that several thousand billboards are blank. Every year, more than half of France’s vacationers take their summer holidays at the same time, during the month of August-a custom that chokes the resorts, quiets the bustle of a great city like Paris and cuts the industrial production of the country by a third.

Shut in french