French press review 27 December 2013

There is only one story dominating this morning, the unemployment figures published yesterday. And it is probably not good news for President François Hollande.

All the papers are looking at the figures in different ways, but the essential information is that the number of job seekers has gone up by seventeen thousand, 800, that is about 0,5%. This increase bring the figure more or less back to where the unemployment statistics were back in September, reversing any progress made in October.

The financial daily Les Echos, headlines that Hollande's promise is in peril. the President insists that the unemployment rate can still be reduced but Les Echos conclusion is that reversing the trend of unemployment is going to be very difficult to attain. In its editorial, Jean-Marc Vittori looks at the projectrions for 2014. He argues that the risk that Hollande has taken over the long term will not pay off. This is because the government has created short term contracts with the hope that the economy will pick up so that these can become permanent. But the catch is that growth is projected to hover at 1% next year, so that doesn't look likely to pay off.

Right-wing Le Figaro concurs with Les Echos that Hollande will not be able to fulfill his promise but, by contrast, headlines that Hollande is actually totally in denial when he says that the unemployment trend can be reversed.

Even left-wing Libération cannot muster too much optimism, instead leading with the rather bland title of "decifering the unemployment" figures.

Centrist Le Monde has an interesting perspecitive on these statistics, and breaks them down by region. Further into the paper, it publishes a map showing unemployment in different regions. The region in the south of the country, Languedoc-Roussillon and up in the north, inclusing Pas-de-Calais show up in red on their map, that indicates that the rate is 15-17,9%.

The unemployment rate is highest in these zones of dense industrial activity and are suffering particularly due to the decline in automobile and chemical industries. Brittany in north west france is also being affected. In tha past this has been a haven protected from some of the buffetting in the economy. Of course this region has been affected in recent months by the ecotax which has caused clashes. And this map just looks at mainland France... in the overseas territories, the rate is up to two and a half times that in mainland France.

Tabloid Aujourd'hui en France is a notable exception in that it doesn't lead with the unemployment figures. It does however, stick with the economy. It takes a look at what we can expect from the markets in 2014, and whether to invest in the financial markets. Oddly, given the bad news that was published yesterday with the unemployment figures, 2013 was very profitable for the markets.

This has not escaped the paper's editorial which notes paper notes that the markets in France seeem to be somewhat disconnected from the rest of the economy, unlike other countries with successful financial markets in which the benefits spread throughout the society. So, the experts wholeheartedly recommmend investing, and there are a few helpful hints.

Another economy story, or sorts... The Director of the Comedie italienne theatre yesterday drove his car into the gates of the Elysée presidential palace in protest. He says that the situation of his small theatre in the 15th arrondisement of Paris is desperate. He managed to escape with minor injuries but was detained for several hours.