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French press review 27 March 2013

Both right-wing Le Figaro and left-leaning Libération give pride of place, if that's the appropriate expression, to unemployment.

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Le Figaro's main headline says "The government proves powerless to stop the increase in the number of those out of work."

With a black humour which might be considered misplaced, Libération's headline reads "Long-term growth," suggesting that the unemployment statistics are the only French economic indicator showing an upward curve.

The situation is far from funny.

In February the number of people out of work increased for the 22nd consecutive month, getting close to the all-time record of 3,195,000 unemployed, set back in the dark winter of 1997.

The number of long-term unemployed has shown a dramatic increase with nearly two million people out of work for between two and three years.

President François Hollande's promise to turn the situation around before the end of this year is looking ever more difficult.

Especially when you read today's edition of communist L'Humanité.

They devote their main story to the divisions in the French left on government proposals to make it easier for employers to take on staff - the famous debate on flexibility.

Earlier this year the government, some trade unions and most bosses signed the national interprofessional agreement, intended to loosen up the whole employment landscape, introducing, notably, the idea of working (and earning) less when there are fewer orders.

The parliamentary debate is likely to be a bitter business, pitting Socialists against one another and against their colleagues further out along the left-wing spectrum.

Socialist Party Senator Marie-Noëlle Lienemann insists that there is real room for debate and modification of the proposed law but she ominously adds that the destruction of the social framework is too high a price to pay for a handful of new jobs.

Le Figaro suggests that the employment crisis means it is time to forget the old pieties and turn the system on its head. But will François Hollande have the courage to speak out against the social model which has put more than three million people on the dole when he speaks to the nation tomorrow night? Will he what?

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