Nadia ANTONIN
In a study published on 16 April 2026, INSEE reveals that the French redistribution system reduces income inequalities but locks beneficiaries into a structural dependency on public authorities. This reduction in inequality is mainly the result of four factors: 1) individualisable social transfers in kind; 2) cash social benefits in the form of replacement income; 3) collective expenditure; 4) levies (income tax and wealth tax).
The INSEE study report also shows that, between the richest 10% and the poorest 10%, the income gap decreases from 1 to 20 before redistribution to 1 to 3.7 after the application of social welfare mechanisms.
Finally, the INSEE analysis reveals that in 2023, more than one in two French people received more from the system than they contributed to it. Some claim that social welfare benefits in France trap people in an ‘inactivity trap’.
Having examined the concept of poverty, we shall demonstrate that ‘work is indispensable to man’s happiness; it elevates him, it consoles him; and the nature of the work matters little’ […] (Alexandre Dumas fils).
Examination of the concept of ‘poverty’
Ms Marie Lecerf from the European Parliament’s Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services points out (‘Poverty in the European Union’, March 2016), ‘there is no consensus on the definition of poverty, which is often defined by other concepts, such as well-being, basic needs, income or social exclusion, rather than by poverty itself’.
According to INSEE, ‘a household and the individuals who make it up are considered to be poor when the household’s standard of living is below the poverty line, which is most often set at 60% of the median standard of living’. Like Eurostat and other European countries, INSEE measures income poverty in relative terms, whereas other countries (such as the United States or Canada) adopt an absolute approach. Absolute poverty refers to people who are unable to meet their basic needs (food, housing, etc.).
The consequences of the decline in the value of work: living on state benefits
Welfare dependency is over-developed in France. International comparisons reveal a ‘distinctive French exception’. Some refer to France as ‘the land of a thousand and one benefits’! The Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES), the statistical department of the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity, has entitled its presentation of the social protection accounts for 2024 ‘The French: Champions of Social Protection’. In 2024, social welfare expenditure reached €932 billion, i.e. 31.9% of GDP and an average of €13,650 per capita. In the EU-27, this expenditure accounts for an average of 27.3% of GDP.
With redistribution having reached its structural limits, ‘France must be put back to work’.
Work is the best way out of poverty
In his book entitled ‘Celui qui ne travaille pas ne mange pas’ (‘He who does not work shall not eat’), Régis Brunet, a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, points out that ‘from Benedictine abbeys to Bolshevik soviets, and from the Calvinist Reformation to capitalism’, St Paul’s dictum has continued to resonate: ‘He who does not work shall not eat’. This aphorism, adopted by Lenin during the Russian Revolution, expresses a social contract based on the ‘value of work’.
In Candide, Voltaire writes: “Work keeps three great evils from us: boredom, vice and want.” Work is beneficial to human beings. According to Immanuel Kant, ‘the best way to enjoy life is through work: it is a profound deliverance that fulfils human beings, enables them to flourish in their freedom, rescues them from boredom and leads them to a deep understanding of practical interest, invigorates their reason, and ultimately brings them joy’.
Escaping poverty through work certainly requires stability, fair remuneration and a favourable labour market, but also other essential conditions.
Creating the conditions to enable individuals to succeed and progress through their work
In his book ‘Development as Freedom’ (1992), the economist Amartya Sen proposes understanding poverty not in terms of insufficient income levels, but in terms of individuals’ ability to fulfil themselves: freedom of expression, dignity, self-respect, and participation in social life in general (what he calls ‘capabilities’).
In order to restore work to its rightful place, we propose the following guidelines:
– Reduce the tax burden on labour and productive capital. According to the OECD, France remains Europe’s champion of taxation. In 2024, the share of compulsory levies in France stood at 45.3% of GDP, compared to 40.4% for the EU as a whole (source: Eurostat).
– Recognising work, i.e., identifying, assessing and rewarding each person’s merits. We must condemn bonuses for incompetence, nepotism and cronyism. In addition to the lack of recognition of merit, some people rightly complain about the devaluation of qualifications, particularly the PhD.
– Combat envy, which is not confined solely to professional relationships. Described at the time as ‘social jealousy’, it lies at the root of a certain political ideal that advocates egalitarianism and reliance on welfare rather than financial prosperity earned through work.
To conclude on the assertion that we can combat poverty through work, let us consider the Christian victims of the genocide perpetrated in 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. Having arrived as stateless persons, they found their place in society through their hard work. They received no help and held out with tenacity. They worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Hard-working and extremely dignified, they enabled their second-generation children to rise to the top of the hierarchy.