Jobseeker total in France nears record 3 million

French jobseeker levels rose for a 14th month in June, making 2012 the worst year since 1999. Almost 24,000 people in mainland France registered as unemployed, making the total number of jobseekers almost three million.


The jobless total marked an increase of 0.8 percent over one month and 7.8 percent over one year.

President Francois Hollande rode to power in a presidential election in May vowing to tackle surging unemployment, but is struggling to halt waves of layoffs with the economy under threat of slipping into recession.

The labour ministry data is the most frequently reported domestic jobs indicator for France, although it is not prepared according to widely used International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards nor expressed as an unemployment rate of number of job seekers compared to the total work force.