Macron under fire after telling young jobseeker to 'find work by crossing the road'

Emmanuel Macron has provoked ridicule and anger by telling an unemployed man that he could find him work "just by crossing the road”. The 25-year-old aspiring gardener complained of being unable to find a job when he spoke to the French president during a public open day at the Elysée Palace on Saturday.  Mr Macron advised him to change his line of work, saying jobs were readily available in catering or construction.  “Hotels, cafés, restaurants, I can find you [work] by crossing the road. They just want people who are ready to work,” he said. There’s not a single place I go to where they don’t say they’re looking for people." Industry officials say about 100,000 vacancies in hotel and restaurants need filling in France. They have urged Mr Macron to allow immigrants to take the jobs.  But the off-the-cuff remark by Mr Macron, often derided by critics as the "president of the rich”, was immediately mocked on social media. Fort de Brégançon: Emmanuel Macron's 'Riviera Camp David' with view of Mediterranean A video of the exchange went viral, prompting a torrent of posts saying that Mr Macron, 40, a former Rothschild banker married to a chocolate heiress, was out of touch. “Completely disconnected from the reality of French people,” one post read. “How can someone show that much contempt, lack of empathy and ignorance in just 30 seconds?” said another. The exchange drew furious criticism from opposition parliamentarians. Laurence Rossignol, a Socialist senator and former minister for families, deplored the president’s “unfortunate remarks” three days after he announced a plan to wean the French off welfare. Mr Macron’s €8 billion “anti-poverty” proposals aim to end the French practice of lavish benefits payments for the poor. Instead, they are to be offered a way out of penury by finding jobs. Mr Macron, who has so far failed to fulfil election pledges to slash unemployment and revive economic growth, is struggling to restore his image after a summer of political scandals and plunging approval ratings. The president came under fire from Left and Right last month for describing the French last month as “Gauls who are resistant to change”. The head of Mr Macron’s party rejected accusations that his latest remarks showed contempt for the poor. “Is what the president said false? If you go to the Montparnasse area, you won’t find that they need workers?” Christophe Castaner said in a TV interview yesterday. “Would you prefer empty words? I prefer a president who speaks the truth.”

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