Paris: The number of registered jobseekers in France rose by 17,800 in November to 3.29 million, the labour ministry said Thursday, challenging government claims to have bucked a trend of spiralling unemployment.
Labour Minister Michel Sapin claimed President Francois Hollande`s pledge to curb growing joblessness by the year`s end was still on track, if part-time and short-term workers were added to the total number of jobseekers.
That number actually fell by 6,900 to 4.87 million if those workers were factored in, prompting Sapin to say that the reversal of the upward trend is "well and truly under course in the fourth quarter."
A slight fall in the number of unemployed for October, of 20,500, had raised government hopes France`s years-long jobless crisis may be finally drawing to an end.
The Socialist leader, who is under fierce pressure to tackle unemployment with polls showing his approval ratings the lowest of any president in modern French history, claimed last month he had met his electoral pledge to halt the rise in joblessness by the end of this year.
Hollande`s reaction to the latest figures was guarded. He simply said the new data "did not modify the trend".
Nevertheless, he asserted that "the reversal of the unemployment curve, which is something I had set out to do, has truly begun."
He said the number of those with no employment whatsoever had been rising by 30,000 per month in the first quarter of 2013, and that the figure had fallen steadily during the year.
"This movement, to be significant, must follow month after month," he said. "It`s a daily battle."
