PARIS, April 28 (Reuters) - French consumer confidence improved marginally for the second successive month in April, despite growing fears over the jobs market, national statistics office INSEE said on Tuesday.
Consumer morale registered a reading of -41 this month, up from -42 in March and better than a consensus forecast of -43. The March figure was previously given as -43.
Despite the improvement, it was nonetheless the 12th consecutive month the figure has been below -40, with the historic low of -47 set last July, showing the fragile state of public sentiment during the economic slowdown.
France has been hit by a wave of job losses during the crisis, with data released on Monday showing the headline unemployment total rising to 2,448,200 in March, a 2.7 percent increase from the previous month and a 22.1 percent year-on-year rise.
Unsurprisingly, the consumer survey showed fears about future unemployment levels in the euro zone's second largest economy jumped to 82 in April from 78 in March.
By contrast, expectations about future standards of living rose to -55 from -59 the previous month. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer; editing by David Stamp)