Unemployment in France has risen by a further 52,400 in October to reach 2.63 million, as economists warn of further rises in joblessness.

The French labor office said the October rise was 2 percent, and including the number of people who were only minimally employed, unemployment had reached 4.02 million. This was 20.1 per cent higher than in October 2008.

Economics Minister Christine Lagarde drew a positive conclusion from the data, saying developments had shown the effectiveness of the labor market policies. She said 969,000 employees had benefited from various job-promotion measures.

However, officials cautioned that the job market situation would still deteriorate for a "number of quarters" since the economic recovery did not result in an immediate drop in unemployment.

SG/SS/MMA