Paris (Reuters) – According to official numbers released on Tuesday, the unemployment rate in France dropped a lot in the first quarter and is now at its lowest level in 14 years. This is good news for President Emmanuel Macron before the elections for the French parliament.
According to the INSEE, the unemployment rate decreased from 7.4 percent in the preceding three months to 7.3 percent. Reuters polled ten analysts and predicted the rate to stay steady on average.
It was the lowest level of unemployment since the second quarter of 2008. The only time it was lower was when a statewide lockdown kept people from looking for work at the start of the economic crisis.
Since Macron’s first year in government in 2017, when the unemployment rate was 9.5%, unemployment has declined significantly.
Macron, who was re-elected for a second five-year term last month and is getting ready for parliamentary elections in June that will decide if he has a majority to rule, would welcome the latest, if small, improvement.
INSEE’s quarterly employment report revealed that youth unemployment grew to 16.3 percent from 16.0 percent in the last quarter of last year, when it reached its lowest level since the beginning of 1981.
The employment rate, which represents the percentage of the labor force that is employed, increased to 68 percent from 67.8 percent in the previous quarter, hitting the highest level since INSEE started collecting statistics in 1975.
