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Under fire for poor economic record, French President Francois Hollande said he would not to seek a second term if fails to lower a long-running rise in unemployment rate.
"My willingness is to bring down unemployment. And at the end of my term, I would told French people that it did not work, but it will work over the next five years? This is not possible," Hollande said during a question-and-answer session on prime-time TV channel TF1.
"I talked about a reverse of jobless trend. It was not done. I have been blamed for that because it was a hope for many, especially those who were seeking jobs," he added.
Half-way into his five-year mandate, the Socialist leader who puts unemployment at the top of his priorities, announced during his TV appearance, additional 15,000 sponsored job contracts to encourage recruitment of young people, a move that could force the government to dig for further receipts while it was under pressure to rein in public spending to reach health finances.
As to the old jobseekers that numbered 800,000, Hollande proposed, in addition to specific solidarity allowance, a state-financed contracts for unemployed people aged up to 50 years and who do not benefit from retirement pension.
A recent Odoxa poll showed eight French voters out of 10 would not support Hollande's bid for a second mandate with just 28 percent of Leftist supporters want him to run for 2017 presidential race.
With only 12 percent of people satisfied with his policy, Hollande is one of the lowest supported leaders compared to his predecessors at the same point in their terms as unemployment continued to grow and economy is in tatters, according to polls.
At the end of September, unemployment grew by 4.3 percent on yearly basis with more than 3.4 million people have been reported jobless.
In a report released last May, the National Professional Union for Employment in Industry and Trade (UNEDIC) painted a grim picture after its data pointed to a continued rise in joblessness curve with additional 103,200 jobseekers expected this year and 60, 000 job claims in 2015 despite the government's reforms of domestic labor market. Enditem
