French economy sheds jobs
RICHARD CARTER
16.02.2004 @ 09:31 CET
For the first time in a decade, the French economy shed 30,000 jobs last year as manufacturing slumped and growth was sluggish, according to figures published on Friday evening by the French statistics agency.
The manufacturing sector in France has been hit especially hard by the economic slow-down with 100,000 jobs lost in the past 12 months.
Industry has been hit especially hard by the economic slowdown in France (Photo: European Commission)
But the picture is not entirely gloomy for the French economy. Job growth went up in the last three months of the year and this pattern is expected to continue.
Economists say that the jobs situation could have been considerably worse, given the sluggish growth of 0.2 percent in 2003.
However, the figures are still bad news for French President Jacques Chirac, who is still reeling from the political scandal surrounding his close ally Alain Juppé.
With European and regional elections fast approaching in France, opposition parties - including the far-right extremist parties - are beginning to concentrate their attack on the recent job losses.
Unemployment problems in the EU as a whole
The poor performance of the French economy reflects unemployment problems in the EU as a whole.
Whilst employment levels in some countries remain high (as in the UK), the main economies of the EU are struggling against an unemployment problem. Germany has over 4.5 million unemployed - although the figure has declined from its peak - and Italy and Spain both have high unemployment rates.
One of the pillars of the EU's "Lisbon Strategy" - its goal is to make the EU the most competitive economy in the world by 2010 - is to have employment levels of 70 percent. Current levels are considerably lower than this target figure and the EU will need countries like France to pull its weight on the job-creation front if it is to succeed in these ambitious aims.
