For the past twenty years France has been slipping into unemployment. This evil, which is becoming more and more serious, is leading our country into decline, and is threatening our democracy. After having described the difficulties resulting from the new world environment, the author discards the false solutions, such as intensified inflation, devaluation or protectionism. He then outlines the daring, but realistic policies he sees as necessary not only in France, but also for a more dynamic European Union.

An economist, Jean-Marcel Jeanneney was a minister for seven years under the presidency of General de Gaulle. In 1980, he created the French Economic Research Institute, which he ran until 1990.