Unemployment in crisis-hit France struck a new high in July, official statistics show, in another blow for the deeply unpopular President François Hollande, reports Business Spectator.
The labour ministry said there were now 3.424 million people out of work, a rise of around 26,000. The 0.8 per cent rise compared to the previous month was the ninth consecutive gain in the monthly unemployment figures.
"This rise reflects zero growth in the eurozone and in France," Labour Minister François Rebsamen said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the latest quarterly figures published by national statistics office INSEE, the rate in the first quarter in France was 10.1 per cent. Figures for the second quarter are due to be released on September 4.
France, Europe's second biggest economy, is battling a political and economic crisis seen as the worst since Hollande took power more than two years ago.
Growth has ground to a halt in the first six months of the year and Hollande has been unable to live up to his promise to bring down unemployment.
His strategy for pulling France out of the mire is the much-vaunted Responsibility Pact, which will cut social charges for businesses by €40 billion ($60bn) in exchange for them creating 500,000 jobs by 2017.
Read more of this AFP report published by Business Spectator.