unemployment

France must deepen its economic reforms to avoid long-term decline and cut the pace of fiscal tightening to help hesitant recovery, warns IMF.

The figures, coming after two years of uninterrupted monthly rises, leave the number of jobseekers at the worst level since records began in 1996.

Labour minister Michel Sapin announces a further increase in state-aided employment in a bid to meet pledge to halt fast-rising unemployment.

The jobless rate reached 10.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the highest it has been since 1998, according to the latest data.

Despite the gloomy figures French president insisted he was sticking to a target of bringing down unemployment by the end of the year.

With six million jobless youths in Europe, ministers say priority is to back smaller businesses who 'create the most jobs for young people'. 

The number of people out of work in France in February climbed towards the record of 3.196 reached in January 1997.

As jobless figures rose in January to a 15-year high, French president is running into increasing flack for failing his promise to spur job creation.

The latest unemployment figures for France reveal that in December the number of jobless rose for the 20th consecutive month to reach a total of 3,132,900, bringing the number of people made unemployed during 2012 to 284,600. The socialist government has announced a barrage of measures to alleviate the trend, which it underlines began well before it came to power last May. But, as Rachida El Azzouzi reports, the initiatives have come under fire from labour unions and economists as being superficial and incapable of reversing the rise in unemployment that is expected this year to reach a historic high.

The French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, INSEE, last week published its economic forecast for the first half of 2013, predicting France will remain on the edge of recession with zero growth, ever-rising unemployment, a collapse of purchasing power and consumption in tatters. Mediapart's economics and finance specialist Laurent Mauduit argues here that the INSEE study provides a damning appraisal of the French socialist government’s austerity policies and its obedience to the fiscal compact.

Unemployment rate in France rose from 10.2% in 2012 second quarter to 10.3 percent in third quarter, its highest since the third quarter of 1999.

Labour Ministry data shows the number of jobseekers rose by 45,400 in October to hit 3.103 million, the highest level since April 1998.

The official number of unemployed in France topped three million in August for the first time in 13 years, with the jobless rate now at 10.3%.

The number of people living in poverty in France is likely to top the 10 million mark in 2013, indicate the results of a report by the French national institute of statistics and economic studies, INSEE, published this month. The fast-rising trend of those falling into financial and social distress is revealed in the institute’s latest study of living standards in the country, which fell for all categories of the population, except for the richest 5 per cent, while poverty increased sharply, especially among the young. Mediapart's economics and finance specialist Laurent Mauduit analyses the disturbing figures.