This programme of dirigisme, mostly implemented by governments between 1944 and 1983, involved the state control of certain industries such as transportation, energy and telecommunications as well as various incentives for private corporations to merge or engage in certain projects.

The 1981 election of president François Mitterrand saw a short-lived increase in governmental control of the economy, nationalizing many industries and private banks.

The new government stated that it aimed to cancel recently enacted tax cuts and exemptions for the wealthy, raising the top tax bracket rate to 75% on incomes over a million euros, restoring the retirement age to 60 with a full pension for those who have worked 42 years, restoring 60,000 jobs recently cut from public education, regulating rent increases; and building additional public housing for the poor.

In June 2012, Hollande's Socialist Party won an overall majority in the legislative elections, giving it the capability to amend the French Constitution and allowing immediate enactment of the promised reforms.

[64] Macron vowed in May 2023 to build factories, boost job creations and make France more independent, shaked by pension protests.

[66] Under European Union rules, member states are supposed to limit their debt to 60% of output or be reducing the ratio structurally towards this ceiling, and run public deficits of no more than 3.0% of GDP.

[71] Macron, shaken by pension protests, vowed in May 2023 to build factories, boost job creations and make France more independent.

[73] Furthermore, France faces a budget crisis in 2024, with the deficit at risk of exceeding 6% of GDP, significantly higher than the previous government's estimate of 5.1%.

Prime Minister Michel Barnier was tasked with finalizing the 2025 budget within days, amidst pressure to present realistic plans for deficit reduction.

[76] The leading industrial sectors in France are telecommunications (including communication satellites), aerospace and defence, ship building, pharmaceuticals, construction and civil engineering, chemicals, textiles, and automobile production.

Due to its heavy investment in nuclear power, France is the smallest emitter of carbon dioxide among the seven most industrialised countries in the world.

[90][91] French manufacturers export great quantities of weaponry to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Greece, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Singapore and many others.

[93] According to 2017 data compiled by Deloitte, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH), a French brand, is the largest luxury company in the world by sales, selling more than twice the amount of its nearest competitor.

[94] Moreover, France also possesses 3 of the top 10 luxury goods companies by sales (LVMH, Kering SA, L'Oréal), more than any other country in the world.

[100] The OECD also found that students in France reported greater concern about discipline and behaviour at school and in classrooms, much more than the rest of Europe.

It allows pupils pursue short and technical studies (laboratory, design and applied arts, hotel and restaurant, management etc).

However, the high-speed TGV trains make up a large proportion of long-distance travel, partially because intercity buses were prevented from operating until 2015.

[112] France also boasts a number of seaports and harbours, including Bayonne, Bordeaux, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Brest, Calais, Cherbourg-Octeville, Dunkerque, Fos-sur-Mer, La Pallice, Le Havre, Lorient, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Port-la-Nouvelle, Port-Vendres, Roscoff, Rouen, Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Malo, Sète, Strasbourg and Toulon.

According to a study conducted by Ernst & Young, France was in 2020 the largest Foreign Direct Investment recipient in Europe, ahead of the UK and Germany.

[34] EY attributed this as a "direct result of President Macron’s reforms of labor laws and corporate taxation, which were well received by domestic and international investors alike.

[113] According to a 2011 report by the American Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), France's GDP per capita at purchasing power parity is similar to that of the UK, with just over US$35,000 per head.

[115] France has long suffered a relatively high unemployment rate,[116] even during the years when its macroeconomic performances compared favourably with other advanced economies.

Since his election in 2017, Emmanuel Macron has introduced several labour market reforms which proved successful in decreasing the unemployment rate before the global COVID-19 recession struck.

[124] A December 2012 New York Times article reported on a "floating generation" in France that formed part of the 14 million unemployed young Europeans documented by the Eurofound research agency.

[128] Every day, about 80,000 French citizens are commuting to work in neighbouring Luxembourg, making it the biggest cross-border workforce group in the whole of the European Union.

[129] They are attracted by much higher wages for the different job groups than in their own country and the lack of skilled labour in the booming Luxembourgish economy.

The principal French exports to the US are aircraft and engines, beverages, electrical equipment, chemicals, cosmetics, luxury products and perfume.

The rural areas are mainly in Auvergne, Limousin, and Centre-Val de Loire, and wine production accounts for a significant proportion of the economy in Aquitaine (Bordeaux (or claret)), Burgundy, and champagne produced in Champagne-Ardennes.

[141] The northern districts of Marseille represent one of the poorest and unequal areas in France, where poor neighbourhoods rub shoulders with wealthier pockets.

The share of people living below the poverty line (949 euro per month) was 28.8% in 2008 in sensitive urban zones (ZUS) compared to 12% in the rest of the territory.