The French unemployment rate jumped to 9.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009, the highest rate in 10 years, the government's statistics office INSEE said Thursday, according to dpa. That represents more than 2.7 million people who are out of work, INSEE said. In the third quarter, the jobless rate had stood at 9.1 per cent. If France's overseas territories are included, the rate of unemployment reached 10 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. The news comes at a bad time for President Nicolas Sarkozy, just 10 days ahead of the first round of regional elections in which according to polls, his centre-right coalition could suffer defeat in every one of France's 22 mainland regions. Earlier this year, Sarkozy had promised the French that the worst of the economic crisis was over and that joblessness would decline this year. However, since his comments, the news on the labour front has only grown gloomier.
