France threatened by mass unemployment

France's Labour and Employment Minister Xavier Bertrand revealed the country's unemployment figures for October on Monday night, which at nine percent reached their highest level since 1999. The left-liberal daily Le Monde calls on the government and bargaining partners to combat the threat of mass unemployment: "The OECD has predicted a recession, meaning that the worst is yet to come. In 2012 the debts incurred for employment policy must drop by 12 percent, meaning unemployment is likely to climb to 10.4 percent by the end of the year. This social pathology has a name: mass unemployment. Revived by a crisis that has exposed the limits of the welfare state, this mass unemployment has become anchored in our Western societies that are as wealthy as they are socially unequal. ... It is not too late to call on the bargaining partners and the government to shoulder their responsibility and sign an employment package capable of combating this sickness."

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