France’s unemployment rate steady at 7.5% in Q1

France’s jobless rate was reported at 7.5% during the first quarter of the year, stable compared to the prior two quarterly periods.

In comparison, a consensus of analyst estimates had pointed to a drop to 7.4%.

The total number of unemployed individuals went up by 6,000 compared to the preceding quarter to 2.3 million, data by INSEE showed.

The jobless rate for people aged 25 to 49 dropped 0.2 percentage points to 6.8% in Q1, while that for persons aged 50 and more increased by 0.1 percentage points to 5.1%.

Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate in the country, which tracks job-seekers aged between 15 and 24, rose 0.6% to 18.1% in Q1.

The unemployment rate for men went up by 0.1 percentage points to 7.7%, while that for women decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 7.3% in the quarter.

The EUR/GBP currency pair settled 0.33% lower at 0.8549 on Friday. For the week, the minor currency pair retreated 0.48%, as it snapped a two-week streak of gains.