PARIS: France's jobless total surged in October by the most in over two years to a new record as the euro zone's second-biggest economy struggles to gain enough momentum to bring unemployment down.

The number of people registered as out of work in mainland France jumped by 42,000 last month to a record 3,589,800, up 1.2 percent over one month and 3.7 percent over one year, the Labour Ministry said.

Increased layoffs and terminations of fixed-term contracts lifted the jobless total by the most since September 2013, in a new setback for President Francois Hollande's efforts to get unemployment on a sustainable downward trend.

Hollande has said he would not run for a second term in 2017 presidential elections if he does not get unemployment falling convincingly lower.

However, though the French economy has been gradually gaining momentum, it has yet to feed through significantly into the labour market despite a range of state-funded schemes to get people into work.

Copyright Reuters, 2015