Unemployment in France stands at a record 3.5 million people, despite the Socialist Party presidency of Francois Hollande being elected on a mandate to specifically tackle the problem.
The failure of the high-spending French state to bring unemployment under control, which latest figures reveal is to hit a 20-year proportionate high of 10.2 per cent, contrasts with the United Kingdom. Here the more financially austere coalition government has seen wages rising and joblessness falling. Reliance on the European Central Bank’s stimulus programme to boost growth in key areas like employment have yet to bear any fruit for France.
Hollande, leader of the French Socialist Party and president of France, promised to bring unemployment down by 2013, reports TheLocal.fr, and pledged that if he failed he would not seek re-election.
The next election for the presidency is expected in 2017. If present polling prevails the likely winner will either be former right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy, or traditionalist conservative movement leader Marine Le Pen.
The Front National leader, who has worked tirelessly to modernise the party of her father and prepare it for national government has consistently led opinion polls in France for months, but missed out on first place in the recent regional elections to Sarkozy’s UMP party.