Unemployment in France slightly down in Q1
Xinhua, June 4, 2015 Adjust font size:
France's jobless rate inched down by 0.1 percent in the first three months of 2015, the national statistic agency Insee said on Thursday.
In mainland France, with 2,858 million people out of work, 10 percent of the active population are unemployed, on falling jobless claims of old people and 71,000 jobless dropped out of the sample as they "are available to take a job but didn't seek one," Insee added.
On a yearly basis, the jobless rate rose 0.2 percent, data showed.
In a previous report, the French statistics agency predicted a 0.1 percent growth per quarter, which means jobless claims will stand at 10.2 percent in mainland France for the whole year of 2015, the highest level in two decades.
Fresh figures of Labor ministry issued on Monday showed 26,200 more people without work entered the domestic labor market at the end of April, with a total of 3.536 million in France mainland, or 0.7 percent rise compared to March data.
Cornered by rampant joblessness rate, French government pledged additional 100,000 sponsored job contracts this year to incite companies to hire more.
It expects to stabilize or even bring down jobless claims by the end of 2015. Endit