France Unemployment Hits New Record High; Hollande's November Pledge Reviewed

In November, French president Francois Hollande announced he had met his electoral pledge to halt the rise in joblessness by the end of 2013.

No one with any economic sense believed it.

Today in the face of a new record high unemployment rate, Hollande says unemployment has "stabilised".

No one with any economic sense believes his statements today either.

Please consider France Unemployment Hits New Record High.

France revealed on Monday tha the number of registered jobless rose to a record 3.3 million in December, belying President Francois Hollande's pledge to reverse the trend by the end of last year.

The number of job-seekers rose by 10,200, the labour ministry said. If those holding part-time employment were taken into account the number of unemployed rose to 4.89 million, another record.

Hollande, a Socialist who is under fierce pressure to tackle unemployment and with polls showing his approval ratings the lowest of any president in modern French history, claimed in November he had met his electoral pledge to halt the rise in joblessness by the end of 2013.

Despite the bleak figures, Hollande - who is currently in Turkey - said that unemployment had "stabilised" but added that "this is not enough."

Stabilization?

• December unemployment rose 0.3 percentage points compared to November
• In the past year, unemployment rose 5.7 percentage points
• By what obscure definition does that performance constitute stabilization?

The average monthly rise in unemployment is .475 percentage points. Thus, it's a relative success for unemployment to rise only 0.3 percentage points. But relative success and stabilization are not the same thing, except of course in political fantasyland.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com