France / Hollande plans to stimulate the jobs market right now

Defying all predictions by the IMF, the European Commission and the bulk of private economists, President Francois Hollande is still banking on a turnaround in French unemployment by the end of the year.

Not only that, he has upped the stakes by making it the top political priority of his Socialist government. “I will be judged on it,” he told the nation in a Bastille Day television interview last month.

It is no secret that he plans to use a variety of state-subsidized temporary jobs and training places to ease the strain on jobless claims totals that hit an all-time record of 3.28 million in June.

The first test of his plan will come directly after France’s August summer break – when his government believes it will confound the skeptics and start to chip away at jobless totals.

“Taken together, these measures will have a major impact over the period up to the end of the year. It will make itself felt on the unemployment trend,” said a government source.

Hollande’s plan is simple. Although he insists the French economy is already pointing up after two successive quarters of slight shrinkage, he accepts that it will still not generate enough growth to create jobs until the second half of next year.

Hence the plan to stimulate the jobs market right now.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via Analysis: How France’s Hollande plans to win his bet on jobs | Reuters.

French Unemployment Crisis Could Last A Decade, Warns IMF

France needs to accelerate labour market reforms and avoid new taxes to sustain a tentative return to growth, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday, while warning that unemployment would keep rising this year and next in the eurozone’s second-biggest economy.

In an annual health check of the French economy, the IMF said the country has made considerable progress in cutting spending, predicting that the deficit will drop to 3.9 percent of GDP in 2013, down from 4.8 percent in 2012.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via French Unemployment Crisis Could Last A Decade, Warns IMF | Economy Watch.