PARIS -- As always at this time of year in France, planes and trains are overcrowded and the highways are blocked by traffic jams. The French, who enjoy the longest vacations in the world -- an average of five weeks per year -- have begun returning home from their summer holidays.

Traveling in these conditions is never pleasant, but this year people are in lower spirits than normal for two reasons. One is the exceptionally rainy and often stormy weather, which has caused serious weakening of the ground in several parts of France's road and railway networks, leading to long delays. The other is the disturbing economic outlook: For the first time in years, the figures for industrial production, employment and, therefore, tax revenues have started to deteriorate.

The explosion of the "new economy," which led to the creation of thousands of start-ups, is over. The same is true for stocks: Over the past year the Paris bourse has lost some 30 percent of its value. There is now little hope that Western Europe can avoid the effects of the economic slowdown that has afflicted the U.S. since last winter. Most workers, though, have not accepted the idea that they may have to tighten their belts, and many are calling for wage increases.