France's unemployment rate rose to the highest level since the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter, the statistical office INSEE said on Friday.

The ILO jobless rate rose to 8.3% in the second quarter from 8.1% in the first quarter. The rate hit the highest since the third quarter of 2020.

Economists had forecast the rate to rise to 8.2%.

The number of unemployed increased by 62,000 from the previous quarter to 2.7 million, data showed.

Among the unemployed, about 671,000 people on average declared being jobless and having been job seeking for at least a year in the second quarter, which was 36,000 more than in the previous quarter.

The long-term unemployment rate reached 2.1% of the labour force, its highest level since the second quarter of 2022.

The unemployment rate among young people aged below 24 years bounced back to 21.6% from 21.2% in the first quarter.