By Brian Rohan
PARIS, Nov 26 (Reuters) - French consumer confidence picked up unexpectedly in November as falling inflation gave households a slightly better view of their standard of living, data from statistics office INSEE showed on Wednesday.
INSEE's monthly reading of consumer confidence rose to -43 in November from an upwardly revised -46 the previous month, considerably better than the -48 expected by analysts surveyed by Reuters.
But the survey also showed increasing concern about unemployment risks, casting a shadow over hopes that spending could help drive the economy forward in the months ahead.
Economists said the picture painted by the survey, which hit an all-time low in July and remains well below its 10-year average of -16, remained bleak despite the relief provided by easing pressure on prices.
"The deterioration in consumer sentiment has already taken place and that's why it's not dropping as sharply as business morale," Societe Generale economist Olivier Gasnier said.
"The slight improvement is linked to the drop in the inflation rate," he said.
Figures from Germany on Tuesday and on Wednesday from Sweden also showed a better inflation outlook was driving unexpected rises in sentiment.
French consumer confidence has been in a rut for months and
a recent wave of job cuts at employers ranging from carmakers
Peugeot
Consumer spending figures last week showed French shoppers increasingly wary about splashing out and analysts said worries over unemployment, which showed up in a jump in the survey reading on expectations of job losses, would weigh heavily.
"It's reasonable to expect that concerns about job security will eventually gain the upper hand in the months to come," said economist Tullia Bucco at Unicredit MIB in Milan.
Consumer spending makes up just over half of the French economy and a rise in the savings expectations component of the survey suggested that many households would store up any benefit from falling inflation rather than spending it.
"Under these conditions, consumer spending, the motor of French growth, will have trouble starting up again," said Jean-Christophe Caffet, an economist at Natixis in Paris.
- For more economist comment, please double click on [ID:nLQ160165]
- For a full table of data, double click on [ID:nPAB004528] (Reporting by Brian Rohan, editing by Mike Peacock)