Work

Moving to France and need to earn a living? Be inspired and stay informed with our in-depth guides to employment and running your own business, as well as real-life stories and work-related news updates.

Labour of love: meet the commuters who cross borders

With its beautiful countryside, culture-rich cities and idyllic seaside resorts, France is in many ways an ideal country to live in – but how far would you travel for the privilege? Gillian Harvey discovers the lengths that some people will go to

Explainer: what is France’s ‘talent’ visa and who can get one?

The passeport talent is a visa enabling workers who will make a significant contribution to the economy to live and work in France for several years

19% rise in resignations since Covid fuels French jobs boom

The pandemic has pushed people to explore alternative career paths, and has created a surge in opportunities. Some three million posts are expected to be on offer this year

Self-employed in France get new law to protect home if business fails

Personal assets like property, furniture, cars and bank accounts will automatically be protected from debt collectors

Jobs boom: which sectors are recruiting most in France?

It is predicted that one million new positions will have been created between 2019 and 2030

Different but skilled: French caterers empower staff with disabilities

Jean-Marc Péchart / supplied by interviewee

‘Differences do not prevent us from having talent’, says Olivier Tran, who runs a training programme to give more opportunities to people with disabilities

Self-employed workers in France to be given improved asset protection

Personal and business assets will be separated to prevent a person’s possessions from being seized if their business fails

French firms given financial support to employ disabled workers

Only around half of companies with over 20 employees respect the rule of having 6% of their staff registered disabled

Two million workers in France to receive boost to driving tax credit

Drivers can access this credit – which has been increased by 10% – if they cover a certain distance in their vehicle for work each year

20 proposals put forward to improve status of self-employed in France

Improved social protection, taxes and simplified administrative procedures are among ledges from the government for 2022

Meet the last traditional makers of the Parisian café chair

Paris would not be Paris without its terrace bars and cafés with their signature rattan chairs. When Alexis Dyèvre took on Maison Gatti in 2019, he felt he was buying a small part of the French capital

Reader experiences: What it is like to be your own boss in France

With Covid raging in 2020, record numbers of workers opted to start their own businesses and the trend is growing this year. We look at the different ways of finding freedom at work in France and talk to those who have made the step

A guide to micro-entrepreneurs in France

Who can become an auto-entrepreneur? What is the annual turnover ceiling? How do micro-entreprises pay income tax and social charges and what benefits are they entitled to?

Many jobs in French ski resorts on offer to English speakers

Brexit has made recruitment harder for UK residents wanting to work the ski season – but there are opportunities for English-speakers already living in France or the EU to do the jobs instead

Europe's only elephant sanctuary in France welcomes first resident

An ageing zoo elephant called Gandhi has become the first inhabitant of a groundbreaking retirement home after nine years of work to get it open

French producer: ‘Foie gras can only be made if you love geese’

There are few foie gras producers in France where everything is done on the farm. Florian Boucherie runs ferme auberge La Garrigue Haute in Dordogne

Canned wine expands in France

A drinks can-filling factory famous for Cacolac chocolate milk is using excess capacity to produce canned wine

Meet the shamanic (spiritual) drum maker in Dorodgne

Only five percussion makers exist in the entire country, according to the Institut National des Métiers d’Art, and Louisa Vinciarelli thinks she is the only one who makes her instruments from scratch

French ‘hybrid’ wine barrel made of clay and wood 'is the future'

Some winemakers in France and abroad have been experimenting with clay fermentation vessels, similar to the amphoras used by ancient Romans

French olives: Quality over quantity

As olive pickers in France set about gathering this year’s harvest, we meet a leading producer and head of the growers’ profession, France Olive

Brocante vendors in France limited to just two events a year

As brocantes and vide-greniers start to animate towns and villages again, warnings have been issued that individuals can sell at only two events per year

‘I am still captivated by the magic of my stained glass windows work’

The world of restoring stained glass windows is still a masculine one, but this did not stop Audrey Rogers from becoming a Maître Verrier, despite being told several times she was too small and would never succeed