Paris: France's unemployment rate held steady at 9.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, with the number of people on fixed-term contracts rising and the number of full-time, permanent jobs falling, data yesterday showed.
National statistics office INSEE previously reported the fourth quarter unemployment rate, calculated according to International Labour Organisation methodology, at 10.0 per cent but revised the figure down to 9.9 per cent.
For metropolitan or mainland France, not including overseas territories in the Caribbean, Africa or the South Pacific, the unemployment rate was stable at 9.5 per cent.
Economy Minister Christine Lagarde welcomed the fall in youth unemployment and said the rise in jobless numbers in France was slightly less marked than in the euro zone as a whole and much more limited than in the United States.
In another sign improvement, Markit/CDAF's final French purchasing managers' survey showed private sector employment expanding in May on the back of a resumption of jobs growth in the service sector. However Alexander Law, chief economist at consultants Xerfi in Paris, said that behind the apparent stability suggested by the overall unemployment rate, the data pointed to a fragile situation on the French labour market.
"Employment in France is becoming less stable, which will contribute to weakening consumption in the coming months," he said in a note to clients.
INSEE said the overall level of employment rose during the first quarter to 63.8 per cent from 63.5 per cent in the previous quarter but it noted that this was due mainly to a rise in the number of workers on temporary or fixed-term contracts.
It said 49.3 per cent of the working age population had a permanent job, compared with 49.4 per cent in the previous quarter, while the rate for those with fixed-term or temporary rising to 6.4 per cent from 6.2 per cent.
It also said there had been a sharp rise in underemployment, in part because many companies put workers on short time to cope with a fall in demand during the slowdown.
