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French unemployment below 10 percent for first time for four years

France's unemployment rate has fallen below 10 percent for the first time since 2012, according to official figures released on Thursday - good news for those who have found jobs but also for President François Hollande who made a pledge not to stand for reelection if joblessness did not go down significantly during his term in office.

A French employment exchange
A French employment exchange AFP
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France's unemployment rate evened out at the beginning of the year and fell 0.3 percent in the second quarter to 9.6 percent in mainland France, 9.9 percent if France's overseas territories are included, according to the Insee national statistics institute.

Although the result is better than the 0.1-point drop the Insee predicted in June, a note of caution has to be sounded, since the margin of error is 0.3 points.

But the trend seems to be real since the drop over the past 12 months is 0.5 points.

Chomage france ée trimestre 2016

Insee's figures show:

  • 2,767,000 people unemployed in mainland France;

  • 1.2 million people, 4.3 percent of the workforce, who have been jobless for over a year;

  • 23.7 percent of 15-24-year-olds without work, down 0.4 of a point;

  • 6.4 percent of over 50s without work, down 0.1 percent.

Political fallout

Unemployment in France hit its highest point - 10.4 percent - in 1997 and fell to 6.8 percent before the 2008 financial crisis, which sent it soaring upwards again.

Both Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing government and Hollande's Socialists have struggled to reduce it permanently and Hollande has said that he will not stand for reelection if he does not make a "credible" dent in the figure.

There seems little doubt that he will stand again in the election, which is in eight months' time, and going below the 10 percent mark and keeping to a downward trend could allow him to argue that he has kept his promise.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls hailed "good figures" in  tweet.

Other economic signs not so good

It was not all good news, however.

Underemployment - the number of people, the majority women, at work but working fewer hours than they would like - rose 0.3 of a point to 6.7 percent.

And, despite signs of econnomic recovery at the start of the year, France experience zero growth in the second quarter, meaning that the perennial debate on economic and labour reform is set to continue. 

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