Reducing poverty and social exclusion is an important objective for all French governments. Even though
conventionally measured poverty is in fact lower than in most other countries, it is still higher than can be
easily accepted. The current policy approach involves a large number of measures tailored to different
circumstances. Some policies have unwanted side effects on labour market performance, and their
cost-effectiveness could be improved to obtain better outcomes with the same resources. Concentrations of
poverty and social exclusion in certain geographic areas and among certain groups of the population
provide one of the most difficult challenges, for which contributions from education, labour market,
housing, urban planning and anti-discrimination policies, as well as from the social services, are necessary.
This Working Paper relates to the 2007 OECD Economic Survey of France
(www.oecd.org/eco/survey/france), and is also available in French under the title “Lutter contre la pauvreté
et l’exclusion sociale en France”.
