One difference is that Mr. Hollande ran on a Socialist platform but as president introduced a short-term payroll tax credit plan to reduce rising labor costs, leaving many Socialists feeling betrayed. Mr. Macron has made clear that he supports a variety of stimulus measures that help businesses, wants to make the payroll tax credit permanent and would push labor reforms even further.

He has endorsed a 50 billion euro (about $55 billion) stimulus plan to reduce unemployment — which includes investing in training programs for one million youths and offering bonuses to businesses that hire from the impoverished suburbs — as well as a host of other proposals that focus more on innovation and modernizing infrastructure.

“He has a social-liberal program which is in the spirit of the five-year term we just had,” Mr. Plane said of Mr. Macron.

This raises the question of whether Mr. Macron’s plans will in fact be enough for France: enough to stimulate jobs while easing the effects of globalization, which have sown such anger that about 40 percent of votes in the first round of the election went to populist candidates, both far right and far left.

Rayanne Benyahia, 16, who is in the program for disadvantaged and troubled youths at the center and keeps up with politics through the internet, said he was skeptical about Mr. Macron’s economic plans.

His preferred candidate was Philippe Poutou, a far-left, tough-talking worker in a Ford factory who inveighed against corrupt politicians and the rich. He won 1 percent of the vote in the first round.