To become rich in France, the easiest way is to be a cross-border worker

11/10/2023, 5:41:26 PM

Highlights: Over the past twenty years, the income gap between French people working in Switzerland, Luxembourg or Germany and those who do not has widened considerably. Three departments bordering Switzerland figure prominently: Haute-Savoie, Ain and Haut-Rhin. The inhabitants of these departments become rich, according to French criteria, by crossing the border every morning to work. It is now enough to be employed in almost any position in France, says L'Observatoire des inégalités.

SURVEY - Over the past twenty years, the income gap between French people working in Switzerland, Luxembourg or Germany and those who do not has widened considerably.

The trend has accelerated in recent years. The most affluent French people living in metropolitan France no longer live exclusively in Paris, the Hauts-de-Seine or a few privileged neighborhoods in the major regional cities. More and more of them have taken up residence in small municipalities bordering Luxembourg, Switzerland or Germany. Thus, among the ten departments that are home to the most "rich" people, according to the think tank L'Observatoire des inégalités, three departments bordering Switzerland figure prominently: Haute-Savoie, Ain and Haut-Rhin.

It is not the fresh air of the mountains or forests that attracts the well-to-do French. The inhabitants of these departments become rich, according to French criteria, by crossing the border every morning to work. In twenty years, the conditions of remuneration between France and its neighbors have indeed diverged, to the point that it is now enough to be employed in almost any position...

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