Figures from the French national institute of statistics, Insee, released today show the rate of unemployment stood at 9.9% in the second quarter, down from 10.2% in the first quarter of the year. 

The news will be a boost for president Francois Hollande ahead of France’s general election in 2017. He has said he would not stand for re-election unless unemployment is reduced across the country. 

In metropolitan France, the part of the country in Europe, the number of people unemployed decreased by 74,000 to 2.8 million people, which is 9.6% of the active population.

For the same region, unemployment decreased across all age groups, but particularly among young people.

Using the ILO measure of unemployment – the number of people who want to work, are available to work and are seeking employment – 23.7% of young people in France aged 15-24 were unemployed in Q2, down 0.4% from 24.1% in Q1.