Jobless claims in France grow by 0.4% in February

The number of jobseekers in France rose by more than 12,800 in February, dealing a new blow to President Francois Hollande's promise to stem a long-running rise in unemployment, official data showed Wednesday.
In its monthly report on jobless claims, the French labor ministry said there were now more than 3.494 million people out of work as of last month, up by 0.4 percent from a month earlier and by 4.6 percent year-on-year.
If taking into account the overseas departments and workers reporting reduced work hours, there were more than 5.561 million people that registered at employment centers over the period, according to the ministry's monthly report.
Unable to deliver on his promise to turn around the troubling unemployment trend by the end of 2013, French President Francois Hollande pledged to quicken growth by 1.0 percent this year, the needed rate to begin chipping away at reducing the large number of jobseekers, according to analysts.