French Unemployment at 14-year High

Job losses at Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) and PSA Peugeot Citroen plan to cut thousands more jobs in the coming months. A threat to close two blast furnaces at an ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT) steel plant in the Lorraine region has led to solid support for a temporary nationalization of the plant. The India-based firm would add 629 more people to France’s growing unemployment lines.

The latest OECD forecast for 2013 GDP growth in France is 0.3%, less than half the growth rate predicted by the French government. GDP growth in 2012 is pegged at 0.2% for this year. In the eurozone as a whole, GDP is forecast to contract by 0.4% in 2012 and another 0.1% in 2013.

Paul Ausick