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Unemployment in France falls to ten-year low

AFP/The Local France
AFP/The Local France - [email protected]
Unemployment in France falls to ten-year low
Photo: AFP

French unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years, the national statistics agency said Thursday, providing a boost to under-fire President Emmanuel Macron.

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The rate fell to 8.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, down by 0.1 percent from the same period in 2018, and the lowest level since 2009, INSEE said.
   
Macron, a pro-business centrist, has made cutting unemployment his main domestic priority and it has fallen gradually -- but unspectacularly -- since he took office in May 2017 when it stood at 9.4 percent.
   
France has suffered from chronic high unemployment for decades and the jobless rate is still far higher than in Germany and Britain, Europe's other two major economies.
 
 
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French economy gets boost as budget deficit sinks to 12-year lowPhoto: AFP

German unemployment hit its lowest rate since reunification in 1990 in April, with only 4.9 percent of the workforce looking for a job.   

British unemployment is at a 45-year low of 3.8 percent despite the economic turmoil created by Brexit.
 
Back in March, The Local reported that France's budget deficit had fallen to a 12-year low of 2.5 percent in 2018, a greater-than-expected decline achieved despite falling growth and purchasing power.
 
The deficit was lower than the government's forecast of 2.6 percent, and came as Insee revised upwards the shortfall between spending and revenue for 2017 to 2.8 percent of GDP, from a previous estimate of 2.6 percent.
 

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