Blow for Sarkozy as jobless total in France rises to 10-year high

Unemployment has been climbing for seven quarters, since the economy dipped into recession in 2008, but the leap announced today was especially high, from 9.5 per cent in the third quarter.

The announcement was an embarrassing setback for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, who pledged in a TV interview in January that

joblessness would drop in the coming months.

"Where is the drop in unemployment promised by Nicolas Sarkozy?" the opposition Socialist Party asked, saying France should have plans to stimulate consumer spending and investment, and also boost efforts to help the unemployed.

Jobs are a main topic of concern in regional elections scheduled for March 14 and 21.

Mr Sarkozy came to power in 2007 on a pledge to get France working more, but he ran into trouble pushing through many planned labour reforms even before the economic crisis hit.

Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and the junior minister for employment, Laurent Wauquiez, tried to put a positive spin on the joblessness figures, saying the job market in France has resisted the crisis better than many countries.

France's number of unemployed is 22 per cent above its level in May 2007 – when Mr Sarkozy was elected – while joblessness across the 16-country eurozone rose 34 per cent in the same period and that in the United States rose 119 per cent, they said in a statement.

Economist Marc Touati said the unemployment rate could not be blamed on the crisis alone.

He cited structural problems in the French labour market.