PARIS, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Unemployment will continue to rise in 2010, despite improved growth prospects with job destruction not expected to ease until the second half of the year, Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday.
"I think that the second half of 2010 should be the moment where things turn, when the return of growth allows us to reach a low water mark, that's to say that the economy stops destroying jobs," she told France 2 television in an interview.
Lagarde also confirmed comments in an interview with business daily Les Echos that she hoped economic growth in 2010 would reach at least 1 percent, above the government's current official forecast of 0.75 percent. (Reporting by James Mackenzie; editing by Tamora Vidaillet)