French unemployment continued its rise during the first quarter of 2013, increasing to 10.8%, according to an estimate from the national statistics agency.
The Insee agency said that unemployment rose from 10.5% at the end of 2012. It had originally reported unemployment was 10.6% in the fourth quarter.
French President Francois Hollande has promised to reverse the rise in unemployment by the end of this year, but that is looking increasingly unlikely. Some economists say it will not peak until at least next year.
According to Eurostat, the European statistics agency, which calculates the figure differently, unemployment is already at 11% in France.
Joblessness has been rising in the country since mid-2011, but France has not seen the astronomically high unemployment rates of its neighbours, like Spain. And it has been slower than other European countries to cut spending and reform its labour market and benefits system.
There are concerns that the worst is yet to come for France. Its economy is now officially in recession again, after gross domestic product shrank 0.2% in the first quarter.
Insee is the in process of slightly changing its questionnaire and method of data collection, so it cautioned that the figures for the first quarter are preliminary, and it could not give the usual breakdown of unemployment by sex and age.
