Jobless claims in France were up by 0.5 percent in the third quarter of the year after the country registered a 0.2-percent rise a quarter earlier, the labor ministry announced Thursday.

For the July-September period, 16,300 more people registered as jobless in France, with the country's total number of job seekers at 3.46 million, the ministry's data showed.

However, on yearly basis, jobless claims fell by 1.2 percent, it added.

French President Emmanuel Macron aims to lower the joblessness rate to 7 percent by 2022 from the 9.4 percent is it currently.

To reach this target, he enacted legislation to lessen rigid labor rules by offering more flexibility to companies to hire and fire and more freedom in terms of pay and working conditions.