Informative piece from yesterday’s New York Times about France’s economic response to the pandemic. How is it they seem to be getting the money to firms to save jobs so much more quickly than in the UK?
On the face of it the French response to the crisis is very similar to that of the UK. €45bn in France for business to furlough instead of laying off workers in France (compared to an estimated £40bn for the corresponding scheme in the UK) together with a program of guaranteed business loans through the banking system . But France is aiming to make payments within 10 days. Applications for furlough of 3.6 million employees already received. The equivalent scheme in Germany has had a similar number of applications. In the UK, since the first announcement on 20th March, nothing has happened beyond a promise. An online service that according to the government website (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme ) “The online service you’ll use to claim is not available yet. We expect it to be available by the end of April 2020.”