French jobless rate sinks below 10% as Hollande re-election bid looms

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The unemployment rate in France dropped below 10% during the second quarter of this year, and for the first time since 2012, according to figures released on Thursday by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). The news appears to pave the way for President François Hollande to announce his re-election bid in next year’s presidential elections but, as Martine Orange reports in this analysis of the figures, the slight fall in official jobless numbers cannot mask the grim reality of France’s endemic unemployment.

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It’s been a four-year wait for French President François Hollande, who somewhat thoughtlessly announced that he would not attempt a re-election bid unless unemployment fell during his five-year term of office. Figures released Thursday by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, INSEE, reveal a fall of -0.3% in the second quarter compared with the first.

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