Market revolution impact on north and south

In the North, the expansion of cities occurred as working-class people moved to urban areas to search for employment in industrial factories and textile mills. In the South, the agricultural economy, particularly in the production of cotton for the creation of textiles, experienced a marked increase.

Unemployment is high and the government's finances are weak. "France's fundamental economic problem," the OECD says, "is a lack of growth." The latest figures for economic activity (gross domestic product or GDP) for the first quarter of the year show growth of 0.5%.