France's unemployment improves by most since 2007

France's unemployment data showed one of its largest declines since before the financial crisis began.

The number of jobless people slipped by 23,800 in September to 3.55m, data from the Labour Ministry showed, which represented a 0.7% month-on-month decline but a 3.1% rise on the same month last year.

Youth unemployment improved for the fourth month in a row, which the ministry said proved the effectiveness of president Francois Hollande's policies in favor of youth employment.

The improvement in employment was thanks to the gradual improvement in economic conditions in recent months, it added, with an increase in job creation efforts, the improvement of the business climate, driven by the reforms the government has implemented.

However, the smaller overall jobless total was partly down to French citizens losing the right to be registered as unemployed as part of reforms underway to tackle the rigidity of the labour market and to improve competitiveness.

Capital Economics earlier in the month said this rigidity of the labour market, it believed, "has been a key cause of the slowdown in consumer spending and near stagnation of the wider economy over recent years."

"But the pace of reform has been slow and the measures that have been introduced seem unlikely to have the desired effect. What’s more, growing voter support for the anti-austerity, protectionist National Front has raised the risk that the Government will backtrack on existing plans."