Making it harder to fire employees for another reason might protect the existing jobs, but it lacks the foresight to understand that these practices simply disincentivize employers from making future hires in the country. As a result, this is another move by the French gov to protect the status quo. The French labor market has already been regulated to the point of anti-competitiveness. This immediately hurts younger workers who are willing to work harder than their entrenched counterparts, but instead find themselves unemployed at a rate nearing 25%. More business as usual for paternalistic government lawmakers.