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France: Unemployment at a 10-year low
In France, the unemployment rate declined in the fourth quarter, to 8.1% from 8.5%. In metropolitan France, unemployment fell to 7.9% from 8.2%. Unemployment reached 8.5% on average in 2019, its lowest level since 2008. Most categories of the unemployed population declined last year, which was unique for the last decade: figures show a fall of 121k in the unemployed population (which now stands at just under 3.3 million, down from nearly 3.5 million in February 2016). Half of the decline since 2016 has occurred over the last five quarters and the trend is slowly accelerating; in December, the unemployed population ... (full story)