The number of unemployed people in France fell slightly in January, the first drop since August, as the government tries to spur growth and revive hiring in the euro zone's second-biggest labour market, reports Yahoo! News.
The Labour Ministry said the number of people registered as jobless in mainland France fell by 19,100 last month to 3,481,600, down 0.5 percent from December and up 4.8 percent over one year.
The jobless category that dropped the most was that of men less than 25 years of age. But underscoring the difficulties for older workers, the jobless level for men and women aged 50 or over rose slightly by 0.1 percent from December, increasing 9.6 percent over one year.
However, the unemployment tally is expected to keep rising in 2015 by upwards of 100,000, according to an estimate made in January by the UNEDIC public-sector fund that manages jobless welfare benefits.