French jobless rate edges up in 3Q

The French unemployment rate rose slightly in the three months to September to 10.5 percent, the national statistics agency Insee said on Thursday. The jobless rate was up 0.1 percentage points from the level in the previous three months, Insee data showed. While the rate remains a 15-year high, it is a way off the record of 10.8 percent registered in 1994 and 1997. Insee's Frederic Tallet, who is in charge of employment data, noted that the growth in the jobless ranks has slowed since the beginning of 2013, after two years of more marked growth. "We had about an average of 60,000 more jobless people in every quarter between mid-2011 and end 2012, but since the beginning of the year, that increase is twice less," he said. Meanwhile, unemployment for young people remained stable at 24.5 percent, after reaching a peak of 25.5 percent end 2012. However, the proportion of youth in employment is also down 0.4 percentage point from the previous quarter. Natixis economist Philippe Waechter said the data underline a "problem that should be examined". He warned: "It means that some youths are not anywhere, neither looking for a job nor in employment, that could be a sign of some sort of desocialisation." Meanwhile, Insee revised the unemployment rate for the second quarter downward to 10.4 percent instead of the previously posted 10.5 percent.