Jobs and employment in France are in demand by the 2.7 million seeking work and this has led to a fall in consumer spending, it has been suggested.

April saw levels of expenditure drop for the third time in a year as the government looks to reduce the budget gap and push up the age of retirement, Reuters reports.

People will "keep their money in their pockets for now", predicted Joost Beaumont, economist at Fortis Bank Nederland in Amsterdam. He said unemployment levels were "quite high".

And although president Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to raise the legal age at which people stop work has elicited much consternation from certain organisations, it is "inevitable", Xavier Bertrand, head of the UMP Party, was quoted in the Telegraph as saying.

"We are the only country in Europe to have such a low legal age," he added. Pensions MP Arnaud Robinet suggested it would be increased to at least 62.

Posted by Alex Donnell