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France unemployment rate stable at 7.5%

France's official jobless rate was stable at 7.5 percent for the final quarter of 2023 as statistics agency INSEE revised upwards by 0.1 percent its initial estimate on Tuesday.

Published: 13 February 2024 10:33 CET
France unemployment rate stable at 7.5%
French President Emmanuel Macron has set a target of full employment by 2027. Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP

The fourth quarter saw the number of jobless nationwide rise 29,000 over the third quarter to 2.3 million with the rate 0.4 percentage points higher than the 40-year-low it had reached at the end of 2022.

President Emmanuel Macron has set himself the target of full employment by the end of his second and final mandate in 2027 – that statistically counting is 5.5 percent or below.

OPINION Macronism has not failed, but its toughest test is yet to come

While progress still has to be made on that measure, French joblessness has dropped back considerably from a mid-2015 peak of 10.5 percent.

Unemployment among the young, for those aged 15 to 24, remains stubbornly high, albeit dropping back 0.2 percent in the final quarter of last year to 17.5 percent but that tally is 0.6 percent above the end of 2022.

The long-term jobless figure, for those out of work for a year or longer, stood at 1.8 percent, a minuscule increase on a year earlier.

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POLITICS

Macron ready to ‘open debate’ on nuclear European defence

French President Emmanuel Macron is ready to "open the debate" about the role of nuclear weapons in a common European defence, he said in an interview published Saturday.

Published: 28 April 2024 13:10 CEST
Macron ready to 'open debate' on nuclear European defence

It was just the latest in a series of speeches in recent months in which he has stressed the need for a European-led defence strategy.

“I am ready to open this debate which must include anti-missile defence, long-range capabilities, and nuclear weapons for those who have them or who host American nuclear armaments,” the French president said in an interview with regional press group EBRA.

“Let us put it all on the table and see what really protects us in a credible manner,” he added.

France will “maintain its specificity but is ready to contribute more to the defence of Europe”.

The interview was carried out Friday during a visit to Strasbourg.

Following Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, France is the only member of the bloc to possess its own nuclear weapons.

In a speech Thursday to students at Paris’ Sorbonne University, Macron warned that Europe faced an existential threat from Russian aggression.

He called on the continent to adopt a “credible” defence strategy less dependent on the United States.

“Being credible is also having long-range missiles to dissuade the Russians.

“And then there are nuclear weapons: France’s doctrine is that we can use them when our vital interests are threatened,” he added.

“I have already said there is a European dimension to these vital interests.”

Constructing a common European defence policy has long been a French objective, but it has faced opposition from other EU countries who consider NATO’s protection to be more reliable.

However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the possible return of the isolationist Donald Trump as US president has given new life to calls for greater European defence autonomy.

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