WHEN Bertrand Millet, a young Frenchman, returns from his summer holiday in the south of France next month he will set about looking for work in earnest. That means boarding a train for London.

The French — particularly the young and educated — are leaving their country in ever growing numbers in search of a better life abroad. Britain is one of the favourite destinations, according to the French foreign ministry. Its figures suggest that the biggest exodus since the 1789 revolution is under way. The number of French people living overseas has risen by more than 40% over the past decade to 1.25m.

The numbers officially registered as living in Britain have risen from 46,000 in 1993 to 91,630 — and the real figure is believed to be more than twice that since most expatriates do not register with French consulates.

Millet, 24, has friends in London and expects to find a job in a restaurant while looking for work as a French teacher. “Finding a job can be quite a complicated thing in Paris,” he said last week. “Not in London. My friends tell me you just have to ask.”

The French used to be happy with the standard of living at home but habits have changed dramatically in recent years as economic problems have set in.

“The French never used to feel the need to live abroad because they had everything they needed at home,” said Agnès Catherine Poirier, 32, a French journalist living in London. “That is not the case any more.

“London is what Paris was 80 years ago — a cosmopolitan city full of opportunity. That is particularly appealing to the young.”

London’s image as a dynamic, progressive city not only helped it to outclass Paris in the competition to host the 2012 Olympics; it also beats Paris in its appeal to French people dreaming of starting their own business.

To them the French business world seems a hostile, over-regulated environment in which connections and diplomas count for more than merit and chutzpah. French labour laws make it extremely difficult to sack anyone and the high cost of employing workers, who are obliged to put in no more than 35 hours a week, has driven many small and medium-sized businesses overseas.

“In France it is a nightmare, a complete nightmare,” says PY Gerbeau, the 39-year-old chief executive of X-Leisure who came to London in 2000 to take charge of the Millennium Dome.

“If you want to achieve something, if you want to start a business or want to have a career, it is really very difficult because, first of all, you cannot work hard because the employment laws stop you from working more than 35 hours.”

The French left claims the brain drain is little more than a scare story and pretext for attacking the generous French welfare system. But the latest figures speak for themselves. In America alone, around 250,000 French people have made their home.

Matthieu Nicod, a 26-year-old investment banker from Mulhouse in Alsace, believes it is far easier to get a good job in Britain than in France. “In France you have to come from the top business school to get a good job. In England, your background doesn’t matter. It depends on how good you are in the interview and how good you are at the job.”

He argued, nevertheless, that the quality of life remained better in France. This continues to fuel traffic in the other direction. According to a report earlier this year from the National Statistics Institute, the number of immigrants from Britain — predominantly retired people who have exchanged high-cost British properties for relatively under-priced French ones — grew by 46% in five years to 100,000 in 2004.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the former French prime minister, commented on the trend in talks with Tony Blair last year. “We send you all our young people,” he said, “and we are getting all your elderly.”

The French exodus will strengthen the arguments of those in favour of deregulating the labour market, cutting the country’s social protection and reducing the tax burden, which amounts to about 60% of an individual’s income, compared with an European Union average of 49%. Until then, it will be hard for France to cut its 10% unemployment rate — and keep citizens from straying.

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