MEDEF vows to create 1 mln jobs over next 5 years

PanARMENIAN.Net - France's business lobby is promising to create 1 million jobs over the next five years as it tries to convince the French that companies are not the enemy in the fight to drive down unemployment, the Associated Press reports.

In an open letter released Friday, Oct 25, the Medef, however, said companies cannot be expected to lower 11-percent unemployment by themselves. It is calling on the government to lower taxes and spending to give companies the room to act.

The new head of the Medef, Pierre Gattaz, said the promise is part of an effort to change the conversation in France, where companies and executives are often dismissed as ruthless firing machines. Gattaz said he wants to remind people that there are no jobs without companies, but first those businesses need to grow.

The Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF), or the Movement of the Enterprises of France, is the largest union of employers in France. It has more than 750,000 member firms, 90 percent of them being small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 50 employees. MEDEF is engaged in lobbying at the local, regional, national, and EU-wide levels.

Every year, MEDEF International organises a number of delegations of French business leaders with concrete projects to targeted countries, especially developing countries. MEDEF espouses “sustainable development”, raising companies’ awareness to the fact that protection of the planet may also be numbered among their competitive advantages.