France – More people were unemployed in October than ever before

More people were unemployed in France in October than ever before, data released Thursday showed, highlighting continued weak activity in the eurozone’s second-largest economy.

The Labour Ministry said the jobless total in mainland France rose by 28,400 to 3,460,900, a 0.8 percent increase over one month and 5.5 percent over one year.

President François Hollande has seen his popularity fall to the lowest ratings in French polling history, with a key factor being his failure to live up to promises to tackle unemployment.

The jobless increase in October was the biggest monthly rise since February, when the total rose by 31,500. It came after a rise in September which wiped out a slight fall in unemployment in August.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Europe – Number of unemployed in France hits record 3.46 million – France 24.