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La Voie Bleue: European Cycle Route of the Year is in France
700km bike path linking Luxembourg and Lyon has been crowned winner of the 2026 title
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Before and after: Garonne river floods in south-west France
Satellite images show extent of flooding from back-to-back storms in February
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Home insurance increases expected in France after floods
Compensation costs for the recent storms and flooding across the west and south-west is estimated to be in the billions of euros
Unemployment is worst for 12 years
Figures for registered unemployed people with no work, even part-time, have hit their highest since 1999
JOBLESS people seeking work increased by 34,400 in October to 2,814,900 – the highest level since December 1999.
The figure is up 1.2% on the previous month and up 4.9% in a year. Adding in jobseekers who have some part-time work, the figure is 4,193,000 in Metropolitan France, up 6.9% over a year.
Unemployment is hitting over-50s the hardest – up 15% in a year. Numbers of those who have been registered unemployed for three years or more has increased by 21.5% over a year.
The government admits that it will not attain its target of limiting unemployment to 9% by the end of the year.
Announcing the figures, Work Minister Xavier Bertrand admitted they were “not good”, “due to an economic crisis that we are not out of yet and which sometimes, at grassroots level, is even getting worse.”
Mr Bertrand said that “as long as the economic situation doesn’t improve, I don’t see how the employment figures could really improve”.
