PARIS: Lockdown due to coronavirus epidemic pushed the unemployment in France to 11-year low in first quarter as people without work were unable to seek jobs once France entered a coronavirus lockdown, the INSEE stats agency said on Thursday.
The jobless rate fell to 7.8 per cent from 8.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, hitting its lowest since late 2008, INSEE’s quarterly unemployment survey found.
France’s nationwide lockdown, which started on March 17, reduced the number of those normally classified as unemployed by making it impossible for them to look for work.
The International Labour Organisation defines being unemployed as not working, but being available to work and actively seeking a job, which was nearly impossible in many professions during the last two weeks of March due to the lockdown.
In the period before the lockdown, the unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent, INSEE said.
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