French jobless rate jumps by 0.9%

In a setback for the ruling Socialist government and President Francois Hollande, the number of job seekers in France had risen by 0.9 percent in February and is now well above 3.34 million, the Labour Ministry reported Wednesday. Hollande had vowed last year to reverse the rising trend of unemployment by December 2013, but he failed to do so. Now, the jobless rate for those on officially unemployment rolls is heading for 11 percent of the workforce and is even higher for those who have stopped registering or are working small, part-time jobs. The latest data showed that 3,347,700 people are officially out of work, up 31,500 in a month, but the total number of people actually seeking full-time employment is above 4.9 million. The bad news comes at a particularly sensitive time as France is in the middle of local elections and the Socialists already suffered big defeats three days ago. The second round of the local elections will be held on March 30.