French jobless total drops most in eight months in April

France's jobless total dropped the most in eight months in April with the number of people seeking work falling by 1 percent from the previous month, Labour Ministry data showed on Wednesday. The number of registered jobseekers in mainland France fell by 36,300 last month, bringing the total to 3,471,800. While that marked a drop of 1.3 percent over one year, it was not enough to erase a spike in March, when the total rose by 43,700.
A gradual improvement in the economy is translating into stuttering recovery in the labour market with large monthly fluctuations in the number of out of work. New President Emmanuel Macron, who took office earlier this month, launched talks this week with unions and employers over labour reforms aimed at introducing more flexibility in the hope of reviving the jobs market. The INSEE official statistics office said last week that the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent of the workforce in the first quarter from 10.0 percent in the previous three months.