Figures have just been released showing that the Unemployment figures for January have fallen by 19100, the first decline since last summer. This is only the fourth fall in unemployment in 33 months in term of Francois Hollande.
The Prime Minister, Manuel Valls told reporters that these figures are “an encouragement to pursue” and a “first positive sign.”
The Minister of Labour François Rebsamen called, in a statement, to “be careful” and“observe over time the monthly developments” . Especially since the January figures are not all roses: unemployment continues to rise, in fact, if we include the unemployed who had a small business (+ 0.3%). In the key: record of 5.23 million unemployed in France and 5.53 million in all France.
In Class A, the decline in January “relates more particularly to young people, who no longer had experienced such a decline for over a year,” says Mr. Rebsamen in a statement. The number of unemployed people under 25 fell by 1.4% in January, but is misdirected on-year (+ 0.4%). For its part, the unemployment of older workers has stabilized last month (+ 0.1%). It remains up sharply compared to January 2014 (9.6%).
Long term unemployment showed a worrying worsening of the figures with 2.27 million unemployed.
The January figures are not necessarily a start to a sustainable upturn because of the poor growth figures. Although François Rebsamen hopes to achieve “more than 1% of growth” in 2015, this small increase will not be enough to curb unemployment, which for the figures to fall, will need more than 1.5% growth this year according to economists
