(Reute
rs) – The number of jobseekers in France rose for the 14th month in a row in June to hit its highest level in nearly 13 years, adding pressure on the new Socialist government, which has made fighting unemployment a top priority.
Labour ministry data released on Wednesday showed the number of registered jobseekers in mainland France rose by 23,700 last month to 2.946 million.
The jobless total was the highest since August 1999 and marked an increase of 0.8 percent over one month and 7.8 percent over one year.
“In the face of this situation, the government is fully mobilized,” the labour ministry said in a statement.
President Francois Hollande rode to power in a presidential election in May vowing to tackle surging unemployment, but is struggling to halt waves of layoffs with the economy under threat of slipping into recession.
His government is battling to reduce the impact of 8,000 job cuts by French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA), presenting on Wednesday a modest aid plan for the flagging automobile industry.
Hollande pledged during the election campaign to create 80,000 subsidized jobs and hire 60,000 people in the education sector as well as create a so-called “generation contract” to encourage companies to hire young workers.
The labour ministry also said that discussions about schemes for reduced working time would be held with unions and employers during the second half of the year with the aim to reach an agreement in January.
The ministry’s data is the most frequently reported domestic jobs indicator for France, although it is not prepared according to widely used International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards nor expressed as an unemployment rate of number of job seekers compared to the total work force.
The unemployment rate hit the psychologically important level of 10.0 percent in the first quarter, the latest period for which ILO figures are available.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)
Not looking good!
Jobless rate must come down!
Interest must be even lower or what?
Fed must do their magic!
You mean even more easing?
Quantative easing is not the way to move forward, enough has already been done.
We need to boast the European economy and stop this Spanish uncertainty.
How many billions should we pour into Spain then?
If Spain fall, then Italy will fall so we don’t have an alternative.
What about Portugal, it’s so quite?
Portugal is doing much better just like Irland.
Irland, because of all the taxes payed by Ryanair??
Laughing!
Don’t think that Ryan is really helping…
Good signs from the UK today where the economy is starting to grow again.
Uk, well they are not even part of the EUR are they.
No, but important to Europe!
However Italy is not doing well.
Romours of a German downgrade!
Moodys are out with a warning, was published yesterady.
That would really help….
Lets just get rid of the EUR
We need the EUR!
Lets get people back to work, thats what we need, then the rest will be ok.
Won’t be easy, nobody dares to hire people today.