A French retreat

THERE IS in France an honorable, romantic tradition of going into the street to protest against the government. Much of the honor and romance, however, was earned in principled stands against a colonialist war or in solidarity with the wretched of the earth. But recent demonstrations against a new law meant to open up jobs for the 22 percent of young people in France who are unemployed has little in common with the French tradition of street protest for progressive causes.

It is true that Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin did a poor job of preparing the way for this attempt at reforming rigid French labor laws. Villepin, who is hoping to run for president next year to succeed his patron Jacques Chirac, failed properly to consult the powerful unions and student associations of France before ramming the law through the National Assembly.

Nevertheless, the intent of the law is to ameliorate the employment prospects of those young people of North African and African descent who rioted for several weeks last autumn. The unemployment rate among this sector of French youth approaches 40 percent. When they do apply for scarce full-time jobs, these would-be workers frequently face discouraging discrimination.

They need this kind of labor reform -- or something similar that begins the difficult task of breaking down excessively restrictive labor regulations that discourage employers from hiring new full-time workers. Under France's current labor laws, it is nearly impossible in periods of economic constriction for those employers to reduce their workforce.

The new law that 1.5 million students, union members, and others were protesting earlier this month would permit two-year labor contracts for new full-time hires who are under 26 years old. The protesters object to a provision of the law that would allow employers to fire these young workers without cause during those first two years. The demonstrators regard this effort to reduce an overall unemployment rate of nearly 10 percent as a way of inflicting job ''insecurity" or ''precariousness" on students and French youth who feel entitled to job security almost from the moment they are first hired.

This expectation is rooted in the historical experience of living with a statist economy that, for a long time, undergirded a social contract which made possible a satisfying quality of life. But, as in other European societies, an aging population combined with inescapable global economic competition is now obliging France to move toward the kind of reforms that have enabled Ireland and England to adapt to the 21st century.

The French protesters taking to the streets today are trying to march backward toward the future.