Paris  - The French labour market shed some 80,000 jobs in February, French media reported on Wednesday.

If the reports by LCI television and RTL radio are confirmed later Wednesday by the Finance Ministry, it would mean that the ranks of the unemployed increased by 170,000 in France in the first two months of the year.

It would also make it the tenth consecutive monthly rise in French joblessness.

France recorded its worst-ever monthly increase in unemployment in January, with more than 90,000 new jobless registered.

The French government is predicting the loss of some 300,000 jobs for 2009, but many observers feel that this forecast is far too optimistic.

The weekly Le Canard Enchainee reported Wednesday that President Nicolas Sarkozy is saying privately that as many as 1 million jobs could be lost this year.

According to the government's statistics office Insee, French unemployment stood at 8.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, with about 2.8 million job seekers unable to find work.