French unemployment up to 9.4 % cent in Q4 of 2011

France's unemployment rate rose by 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 9.4 per cent of the active population, state statistics agency INSEE said on Thursday. The 0.1 per cent rise applied to both the increase from the third quarter of 2011 and the year-on-year increase from the fourth quarter of 2010. Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand said that despite the figure, "France has resisted better than its main partners in the face of the global (economic) crisis." France's growing joblessness is a major issue as President Nicolas Sarkozy bids for re-election in an April-May two-round presidential election.