France: the 35-hour week is a starting line, not a ceiling
The durée légale of 35 hours is widely misread as a maximum. It is not. It is the point at which an hour stops being ordinary and starts being an heure supplémentaire, which must be paid at a premium. Working 39 hours in France is perfectly legal; four of them simply cost the employer more.
France counts from the 36th hour of the week. Article L3121-36 of the Code du travail sets the premium at 25% for the first eight overtime hours, hours 36 to 43, and 50% from the 44th onwards, which is why ten overtime hours here are not ten times a single multiplier. A branch or company collective agreement may set a different rate, but it cannot go below 10%.
Because the divisor is 35 rather than 40, the same salary buys a visibly higher French hourly rate before leave is even considered: 52,000 over 1,820 paid hours is 28.57 an hour, against 25.00 on an American 2,080.
Then the leave arrives. Paid holiday is five weeks, accrued at two and a half working days for each month worked, and there are about eleven public holidays. Roughly 36 paid days involve no work, so the rate per hour actually worked climbs again, to 33.16 on that same 52,000. That is the number to use when weighing a French offer against one made anywhere else, and it is a third above the headline American figure on an identical salary.