Unemployment in France has hit a level last seen in 1998 as Europe's second-biggest economy remained stuck in recession. President Francois Hollande has vowed to reverse the rise, but the worst seems yet to come.
French unemployment rose 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2013, reaching a jobless rate of 10.8 percent at the beginning of April, the country's statistics institute, Insee, announced Thursday.
The rise marked the 24th consecutive month of increasing unemployment and had put 3.25 million people out of work, Insee data showed.
According to Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, French unemployment is already at 11 percent under calculation methods applied within the EU bureaucracy.
0:00:00 | 0:00:00 France in urgent need of reform
Unemployment figures were boosted by declining economic activity in the past two quarters in which France had slipped into recession. Europe's second-largest economy contracted 0.2 percent in the first three months of this year.
French President Francois Hollande has vowed to stop the rise in unemployment by the end of this year. However, economists at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have predicted the jobs crisis in France to continue well into next year, with the jobless rate forecast to hit 11.1 percent in 2014.
uhe/kms (AP, dpa, AFP)
François Hollande, the President of France, has vowed to reverse unemployment trends by the end of the year. 
Last Thursday, the  (INSEE) announced the French job market continued to struggle as unemployment rose to 10.8%, the country's highest recorded unemployment rate since 1998. The 0.3% rise in the first quarter of 2013 had increased doubt around French President François Hollande's promise to reverse the trend by the end of 2013. 

According to INSEE data this had been recorded to be the 24th uninterrupted month of unemployment increases, leaving 3.25 million people jobless. France's economy was predicted to marginally retract overall this year and had experienced a minor recession this quarter due to deteriorating economic activity.

The news came as the  (ECB) planned to meet to discuss interest rates. It was assumed that the ECB would reveal plans to encourage lending in the , a significant outcome for small and medium sized business, who employed around three quarters of the eurozone. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had advised France that they may fall behind surrounding European economies if they do not take action and introduce new economic reforms. The IMF has suggested a decrease in labour costs and stopping tax increases could help to improve the country's economic competitiveness and increase growth.


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