Blasted by the opposition as the man who lost France's triple-A credit rating and lagging in the polls, President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday said he would use the last three months of his mandate to focus on quelling unemployment and making French companies more competitive.
After a four-hour meeting with labor and business representatives, Mr. Sarkozy said he would unveil his job and competitiveness plan before the end of January.
During the discussion at the Élysée Palace, the president said he had two measures in mind: shift part of the burden of social welfare from companies onto consumers, and persuade workers to agree to pay cuts in exchange for job security.
He also announced €430 million ($547 million) in immediate measures to help contain the rise in unemployment.
"Whatever the political calendar, the economic crisis, unemployment and the suffering of our compatriots give us no right to remain still," he said.
The Medef, France's largest business-lobby group, praised Mr. Sarkozy for his bid to energize the economy, but labor unions were very skeptical.
The measures "won't have the slightest impact on employment," said Bernard Thibault, head of Confédération Générale du Travail.
Mr. Sarkozy's action pledge came less than a week after Standard & Poor's Ratings Services stripped France of its triple-A credit rating—a decision that analysts said puts a stain on the record of a president who had presented himself as the person most capable of steering the euro zone's second-largest economy out of the economic crisis.
"Mr. Sarkozy is playing hyperactive," said Jean Chiche, a professor at the Sciences Po University in Paris. "But voters understand there is little substance."
According to an Ifop survey published Tuesday, 24% of voters would cast their ballot for him in the first round, against 28% for Socialist Party candidate François Hollande.
An Ifop survey conducted on Jan. 6 had Mr. Sarkozy winning 26% of the votes.
In a runoff, Mr. Hollande would crush the incumbent president, with 57% of the votes, according to Tuesday's Ifop survey.
Mr. Hollande has said he would combat unemployment by giving incentives to companies where old workers help train young hires.
He is scheduled to present his detailed program on Sunday.
Although France continues to hold triple-A grades from Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service, S&P's downgrade exposed the country's delicate financial situation.
France has committed to reducing its budget deficit in a bid to allay investor concerns that the country's €1.7 trillion debt load could veer out of control.
This budgetary constraint, made worse by the sluggish economic environment in Europe, makes it even tougher for the government to contain the steep rise in unemployment.
At 9.8% late last year, the jobless rate is nearing a 12-year high.
On Wednesday, Mr. Sarkozy said he may borrow a recipe Germany relied on five years ago to transfer part of social-security costs onto consumers via an increase of the sales tax.
In France, the measure would lower the cost of goods produced domestically and act as an implicit custom duty because it would also weigh on imported products.
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