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This article questions the consequences for France of a policy that would replicate part of the German experience since the mid-2000s and addresses the possibility of alternative strategies. Utilising the CGE model built by Beissinger et alii (2016), we implement a series of simulations to analyse the impacts of: ( i) a German-type labour market reform lessening the reservation wage, and ( ii) a policy which stimulates demand for non-tradable services. We show that: ( i) structural differences could make a German-type policy less efficient and more painful (in terms of inequality) in France, and ( ii) public action which directly targets demand for non-tradable services could provide an alternative policy.