Here's a curious fact about the French economy: The country has 2.4 times as many companies with 49 employees as with 50. According to the French labor code, once a company has at least 50 employees inside France, management must create three worker councils, introduce profit sharing, and submit restructuring plans to the councils if the company decides to fire workers for economic reasons. French businesspeople often skirt these restraints by creating new companies rather than expanding existing ones. Companies say the biggest obstacle to hiring is the 102-year-old Code du Travail, a 3,200-page rule book that dictates everything from job classifications to the ability to fire workers. The code sets hurdles for any company that seeks to shed jobs when it's turning a profit.