Does France offer unemployment benefits to these who can't find work?
The real problem could be that the gap between working and welfare is so slight that it discourages the unemployed from finding work. Why work 40 hours for just a little more?
If socialist France does offer generous unemployment benefits it'd mean that Sowell's idea of solving the problem by eliminating the entry wage structure/package wouldn't work at all.
Maybe he'll get to that in Part II :-).
Excellent point, though. Systematic unemployment has at least those two parts: wage rates fixed by government above the market level, AND government support of those who aren't supporting themselves.