(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron can count on one thing in his showdown with labor unions over raising the pension age: the strikes and protests are unlikely to have much impact on the economy.
While some sectors such as transport and tourism may be temporarily hit, the macroeconomic fallout from industrial action in France is typically “quite limited,” national statistics agency Insee said.
It estimates that during disruptive protests in 1995 and lengthy transport strikes in 2019, quarterly gross domestic product growth was reduced by no more than 0.2 percentage points.
The impact of smaller scale industrial action is in general less than half that estimate, and the development of remote working since the Covid pandemic will also reduce the drag on activity, Insee economist Julien Pouget said.
In its updated economic forecasts on Tuesday, which show France will avoid recession, Insee said it is not incorporating any impact from strikes.
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