PARIS (Reuters) - France’s jobless total should fall less than initially expected this year, Unedic, the quasi-state fund that manages jobless welfare payments said on Tuesday.

A logo is seen on the entrance of a Pole Emploi office (National Agency for Employment) in Paris August 29, 2014. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

French unemployment is stuck at above 10 percent and President Francois Hollande has staked his political future on bringing it down. He has said he would not stand for re-election in 2017 if joblessness had not fallen by then.

According to Unedic, the total number of jobseekers in its category A measure - those registered as looking for work and who have no employment at all - should fall by 25,000 in 2016 to 3,566,000 at end-2016 after rising by some 90,000 last year.

In its last update in October, the fund had forecast the number of jobseekers to fall by 51,000 in 2016 after a 62,000 increase in 2015.

The number in categories B and C - people registered as jobseekers but who have had some part-time work - will rise by 51,000 this year after rising by 170,000 last year, Unedic said on its website.

For 2017, Unedic expects the number of jobseekers in its category A measure to fall by 26,000, only slightly more than in 2016, while those registered in categories B and C would increase by 36,000.

The Unedic fund said its deficit was expected to drop to 4.2 billion euros ($4.62 billion) this year from 4.5 billion euros in 2015, both figures slightly worse than previously forecast, before narrowing further to 3.6 billion euros in 2017.

The total debt burden for unemployment insurance would rise to 30.0 billion euros in 2016 from 25.8 billion in 2015, before increasing to 33.6 billion euros next year.

Unedic is financed directly by contributions from workers and employers, with any shortfalls made up by borrowing. Because the state guarantees Unedic’s bonds, its debt counts towards the total government debt.

($1 = 0.9082 euros)