(Corrects quarter in headline and first paragraph)
PARIS (Reuters) – Unemployment in France dipped slightly in the first quarter to the lowest rate in 14 years, official data showed on Tuesday, giving President Emmanuel Macron a boost ahead of legislative elections.
The unemployment rate slipped to 7.3% from 7.4% in the previous three months, the INSEE statistics agency said. A Reuters poll of 10 economists had on average expected the rate to remain unchanged.
It was the lowest level of unemployment since the second quarter of 2008, with the exception of an anomalous unrepresentative drop at the start of the pandemic because jobseekers could not look for work during a nationwide lockdown.
The slight improvement will come as good news for Macron, who was re-elected for a second five-year term last month, as he prepares for June legislative elections that will determine whether he has a majority to govern.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
