French Unemployment Rate Highest Since 2020

(RTTNews) - France's unemployment rate rose to the highest level since the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter, the statistical office INSEE said Friday.

The ILO jobless rate rose to 8.3 percent in the second quarter from 8.1 percent in the first quarter. The rate hit the highest since the third quarter of 2020.

Economists had forecast the rate to rise to 8.2 percent.

The number of unemployed increased by 62,000 from the previous quarter to 2.7 million, data showed.

Among the unemployed, about 671,000 people on average declared being jobless and having been job seeking for at least a year in the second quarter, which was 36,000 more than in the previous quarter.

The long-term unemployment rate reached 2.1 percent of the labor force, its highest level since the second quarter of 2022.

The unemployment rate among young people aged below 24 years bounced back to 21.6 percent from 21.2 percent in the first quarter.