Paris  - The French unemployment rate soared to 9.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year, the highest level in more than three years, the government's statistics office INSEE announced Thursday.

In the first quarter of 2009, the jobless rate had stood at 8.5 per cent.

In a statement, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde tried to put a favourable spin on the numbers, saying that the number of jobless had increased by 14 per cent in France since the spring of 2007, compared to 28 per cent in the euro zone and 116 per cent in the US.

However, she also cautioned that the labour market would continue to deteriorate for several quarters, "because even a gradual economic recovery will not be translated into an immediate decline in joblessness." (dpa)