Unemployment at lowest since 80s
While the government welcomes a fall in jobless to 7.2% - critics say it is because more people are retiring.
France’s unemployment figures reached their lowest level since the early 1980s according to latest statistics.
Government statistics body Insee said the percentage of people out of work fell 0.2% in the last four months of 2007 and 1.2% in the last year.
At the end of 2007, 2.1 million people were unemployed in France.
The figures were hailed as an achievement by President Sarkozy but critics on the left say they have little to do with government policies.
The minister for employment and the economy Christine Lagarde said the drop was ‘simply due to the creation of jobs’. She said that 340,000 posts had been created in 2007 – “A rate not seen since 2000,” she added.
Socialist Party economics spokesman Michel Sapin said the figures were a result of France’s ageing population.
“The figure for the active population, that is the number of people of an age where they can work, is shrinking,” he said.
Pensioners are not counted among the active population.
“We should look at the monthly unemployment figures which are rising again, rather than the percentages given by Insee,” he added.
If France’s overseas territories are taken into account, the percentage of jobless rises to 7.5%. The average figure for the European Union is 7.1%
Photo: sxc\toto55 Alexander Radev
