PARIS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The monthly unemployment rate in France fell by 1 percent in April, the lowest level since 2016, figures released by the Labor Ministry showed on Wednesday.
The French government received 3.471 million jobless claims last month, 36,300 fewer than a month earlier, according to the ministry's report.
On a yearly basis, the unemployment rate was also down by 1.3 percent.
With overseas territories taken into account, the number of jobseekers decreased by 1 percent to 3.727 million compared to March data.
French newly-elected President Emmanuel Macron targets at lowering the joblessness rate to 7 percent by 2022 from 9.3 percent currently.
To that aim, he promised to create public investment scheme worth 50 billion euros (55.89 billion U.S. dollars) to improve training, finance energy transition and modernize the country's administrative services which are expected to offer wider job opportunities.
In addition, he wants to further reduce high employment charges to boost recruitment.
