The 35-hour week was aimed at cutting unemployment and the French statistics institute Insee said it created 350,000 jobs between 1998 and 2002, but at the cost of billions of euros in state aid to companies.
Growth in France was the strongest in two years in the first quarter, fuelled by a surge in consumer spending according to the national statistics office, Insee.
Insee, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, projects it could reach 81.5 percent in 2012.
Insee, a statistics body, says it cut output per head by 5% between 1999 and 2002.In labour-intensive services, the 35-hour week has brought mayhem as well as extra costs.
Household spending on such goods, which accounts for about 15percentt of the economy, fell 0.3percentt from July, when it had risen 0.4percentt, Insee, the national statistics office, said.
France was essentially the only bright spot, increasing 0.6 percent in the quarter, driven in large part by consumer spending and inventory changes, its national statistics office, Insee, reported.
INSEE did not include drugs in its May revision of gross domestic product but included other parts of the new calculation rules such as accounting for research and development spending as investment.
Gross domestic product in the country rose 0.1percentt from the second quarter, when it shrank 0.3percentthethe national statistics office, Insee, said.
Production at factories and utilities, which accounts for 15percentt of the economy, gained 1.4percentt from March, when it fell 1percentt, said the national statistics bureau, Insee.
The French statistics body Insee said unemployment on mainland France and its overseas territories fell to 9.9% in the second quarter, from 10.2% in the previous three months.
INSEE will, however, include illegal drugs trade estimates in separate data it sends to Brussels every year and which is used, among other things, for the calculation of a country's contribution to the EU budget, he said.
