France's fourth-quarter unemployment rate jumped to the highest level in a decade - 10 percent - an eye-catching figure that is likely to weigh on voters ahead of regional elections.
Joblessness rates have been climbing for seven quarters, since the economy dipped into recession in 2008, but the leap announced Thursday by national statistics agency Insee was especially high, from 9.5 percent in the third quarter.
The last time unemployment was at 10 percent was in 1999, Insee said.
The announcement was an embarrassing setback for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, who pledged in a widely watched television interview in late January that joblessness would drop in the coming months.
"Where is the drop in unemployment promised by Nicolas Sarkozy?" the opposition Socialist Party asked in a statement, saying France should have plans to stimulate consumer spending and investment, and also boost efforts to help the unemployed.
Jobs are a main topic of concern in regional elections scheduled for March 14 and 21.
Sarkozy came to power in 2007 on a pledge to get France working more, but he ran into trouble pushing through many planned labor reforms even before the economic crisis hit.
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and the junior minister for employment, Laurent Wauquiez, tried to put a positive spin on the joblessness figures, saying the job market in France has resisted the crisis better than many countries.
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