France's
jobless rate hit its highest level in more than 13 years in the last quarter of
2012, underscoring the challenge the government faces over its pledge to
reverse the upward trend by year-end.
Thursday's
official data prompted a renewed government plea for action at European level
to spur growth as the euro zone's No. 2 economy shows increasing signs of
languishing behind a more resilient Germany.
The rise to
10.6 percent is the sixth consecutive quarterly increase in the jobless rate in
the French economy, which contracted 0.3 percent in the final three months of
2012.
It brings
unemployment to its highest since the second quarter of 1999 and is the latest
bad news for a government that has admitted it will fall far short of growth
and public deficit targets this year. Other data published on Thursday showed a
widening trade deficit.
"It is
an uncomfortable truth for (President) François Hollande and another sign that
France may be joining the wrong side of the euro zone team," said Julien
Manceaux, economist at ING Financial Markets, forecasting that unemployment
would climb as high as 11.5 percent this year.
The European
Commission sees French unemployment hitting 10.7 percent this year, nearly
twice the level of Germany's 5.7 percent and not much better than Italy's 11.6
percent, but still far less than in Spain and Greece.
Hollande
took power last May promising to halt a relentless rise in unemployment which
has left one in four youths out of work and vowing to restore France's
industrial competitiveness.
The
president's approval ratings have slumped to around 30 percent since then as
his government battles against a tide of factory closures. After backtracking
last month on growth and deficit targets, he conceded the unemployment goal
would now be harder to reach.
France's
trade deficit widened to 5.9 billion euros in January from 5.4 billion in
December, with a large chunk of the worsening data due to a drop in the sale of
Airbus aircraft from 26 in December to 18, other data showed on Thursday.
BOOSTING
GROWTH?
Industry
Minister Arnaud Montebourg said worsening unemployment and bleak fourth-quarter
GDP data across the euro zone, including in the bloc's powerhouse Germany,
should push the European Union to take steps to boost growth.
"Europe and the euro zone are sinking. This is why the government is fighting, with the European Commission, for growth measures to be taken," he told France Info radio.
The
Socialist government has already taken steps to boost competitiveness with
measures to ease labour costs and a deal signed with mainstream unions in
January to make hiring and firing laws more flexible to help companies weather
downturns.
Hard-left
unions oppose the agreement, saying it threatens job security, and led several
thousand marchers in street protests in towns across France on Tuesday.
On Thursday,
workers at tyremaker Goodyear, rallied in a Paris suburb against job cuts at a
plant in the northern French city of Amiens, clashing with policemen, hurling
paintballs and tyres.
The
fourth-quarter headline unemployment figure, based on measurement criteria of
the International Labour Organisation, was up 0.3 percentage points from the
third quarter.
The total
number of unemployed in mainland France was 2.9 million in the fourth quarter,
national statistics office INSEE said. Just over a quarter of 15-24 year-olds
were unemployed.
According to
monthly figures issued last week by the labour ministry, which are not
calculated according to ILO measures, mainland jobless totalled 3.17 million in
January, the highest since July 1997 and close to the all-time high of 3.196
million.
Despite the
bleak economic data, yields on long-term, fixed-rate French bonds largely fell
at an auction on Thursday, underscoring the resilience of the country's bond
market amidst renewed concerns over euro zone partners Italy and Cyprus.
No comments:
Post a Comment