France hits record unemployment high once again
Unemployment reached a new record in France with 3.488 million job-seekers at the end of November. The number of people claiming jobless benefits increased of 27,400 (up 0.8 percent) as compared to October, the Ministry of Labour announced Wednesday.
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The new figures also show that unemployment went up 5.8 percent compared to the previous year.
People of all ages are concerned with an increase of 0.5 percent for the young and of 1 percent for senior citizens. Over the year, unemployment continued to hit people over 50 (up 11.1 percent) and the increase reached 1.5 percent for the young under 25.
Reducing unemployment is one of President François Hollande’s main promises but after two-and-a-half years in office that has yet to happen. Since Hollande started his presidency, only three months have seen a drop in unemployment.
In an interview last month, he said he would not stand again for the French presidency in 2017 if he had not managed to live up to his promise to bring down unemployment by then.
But France's economy is barely growing and many economists believe an average of 1.5 percent growth is needed to reduce unemployment.
François Rebsamen, the Minister of Labour, said measures would be taken at the beginning of 2015 in order to favour employment. He mentioned the “Responsibility Pact” which will cut social charges for businesses by 40 billion euros in exchange for them creating 500,000 jobs by 2017.
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