The number of people out of work in France climbed towards a record high in February, with the now 22-month rise taking an increasingly heavy toll on consumer morale in the euro zone's second-biggest economy according to data released Tuesday, reports Reuters.
Adding to the pressure on President Francois Hollande over his pledges to boost jobs and create growth, the number of registered jobseekers rose last month to within several thousand of the highest figure on record, monthly labour ministry figures showed.
The number of registered jobseekers in mainland France rose by 18,400 from January to 3.188 million, the highest since June 1997 and ever closer to the record of 3.196 reached in January of that year.
Separately, the INSEE statistics agency's monthly confidence survey, which landed hours before jobless data, found worries about unemployment were at their highest level since July 2009, when France was emerging from its worst recession in decades.
INSEE's consumer morale index fell to 84 from 86 in February, its lowest level since November and slipping further away from a long-term average of 100. A Reuters poll had forecast a reading of 85.
With the economy posting barely any growth since the first quarter of 2011, unemployment has climbed steadily to its highest level in more than 13 years, affecting 10.6 percent of the workforce in the final quarter of last year.
Consumers, the traditional motor of the French economy, are bracing for tougher times, spooked by almost daily news about factory closures and layoffs.
This week, Lyon-based chemicals firm Kem One said it was poised to file for bankruptcy, putting up to 1,300 jobs on the line just nine months after a new owner took over the firm.
With his ratings at record lows less than a year into office, Hollande is due to give a prime-time television interview on Thursday aimed at reassuring the French over the economic outlook.
Elected last May to revive the economy and get people back into jobs, Hollande promised to get unemployment falling before the end of this year.
However, that prospect is becoming ever more challenging in the face of a steady stream of weak economic data suggesting France may have slipped into its third recession since the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
The government is in the process of revising down its 2013 growth forecast from 0.8 percent, but most private economists say France will be lucky to post any growth this year.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's, which stripped France of its triple-A status last year, forecast on Tuesday that the French economy would contract 0.2 percent this year with neither consumers nor business in a position to drive a recovery.
Read more of this report from Reuters.