SIX French job seekers will make history this week by demanding compensation from the national employment agency of up to 300,000 euros (US$390,000) each for failing to find them jobs, their lawyers said yesterday.

A record 3.26 million people are now jobless in France and Socialist President Francois Hollande's pledge to reverse the rise in joblessness by the end of the year seems untenable, experts say.

The government blames the situation on the eurozone crisis and says it inherited a messy economy from the government of Hollande's predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.

Florent Hennequin, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said they along with the influential CGT trade union will file the demand for compensation from Pole Emploi at its Paris headquarters on Friday.

The job seekers complain that local employment centers have not helped them enough to find work nor given them training.

One of the six is a 54-year-old former manager who delivers newspapers part-time.

He signed on at the employment center in February 2009 but was only accorded three meetings with Pole Emploi officials, despite repeated requests.