Boost as jobless numbers fall

FRANCE’S unemployment figures fell by 20,500 last month, the first real drop since 2011, new figures show.

The figures also show the number of jobless young people fell for the sixth month in a row.

A total of 20,500 fewer people signed on the Category A register in October. This category refers to people who are seeking full-time, permanent–contract jobs, who had not worked more than 78 hours in the previous month.

President Hollande, who initially greeted the results with a low-key reply saying the “battle must be fought month by month and will take as much time as necessary”, later accepted that it was, indeed, good news and said: “Today’s figures show the battle for jobs can be won.”

Following the debacle of the August jobless figures, where a surprise fall was almost immediately blamed on mistakes in the statistics, he had been unwilling to make big claims, but admitted that the figures were “in line with the commitment I made at the beginning of the year” [to reverse the jobless curve by the end of 2013].

Labour Minister Michel Sapin said: “The inversion of the curve is under way.”

The figures are the first fall since April 2011, but Mr Hollande said that he would not forget that there were “still 3.27million people still signed on at the Pôle Emploi”. This puts unemployment at 10.9%.

The government has funded major retraining programmes to get people off the dole – and has increased business aid to avoid lay-offs – but the labour market is still very fragile with a total of 4,88m listed as job-seekers in all three main categories at the Pôle Emploi. Figures also show that the majority of jobs now available are on short-term contracts.

Mr Hollande, whose popularity has plummeted to record lows in recent weeks, aims to stabilise the jobless figures through the job-creation schemes for young workers in the hope that the predicted growth of 1% next year and 1.7% in 2015 will allow the economy – and job numbers - to take off.
Photo: Matthieu Riegler