More than 140,000 jobs will be lost in France in a no-deal Brexit, report says

The impact study commissioned by the Belgian government, showed that the UK leaving the EU without an agreement would cause major job losses in every country in Europe.

The country predicted to be worst hit by a no-deal Brexit, unsurprisingly, is the UK itself with projected job losses of 526,830 - up to five percent of its total workforce.

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But the study also predicted a significant impact on many other European countries.

Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland were shown as the worst affected in terms of job losses as a percentage of their economy, with each predicted to lose 1.3 percent to 5 percent of their jobs.

In the next category down was France, which is predicted to lose 1 percent to 1.3 percent of its jobs - up to 141,320 roles.

The report also projected the likely impact on Europe's economies in the case of the UK leaving the EU with a deal.

Although this would still impact all economies, the effect would be greatly lessened, concluded the report authors.

If the UK left with a deal it would likely lose 139,860 jobs, while France would lose 34,500 roles.

To calculate the impact, researchers defined “leaving with an agreement” as a situation where the UK leaves the EU but remains part of the internal market or the European Customs Union.

For the projected no-deal scenario, researchers assumed the UK would leave the single market and fall back on the rules of the World Trade Organisation.

Either scenario would be a blow for the French economy, which has been slowly lowering its historically high levels of unemployment.

Figures released in May showed the jobless rate at 8.8 per cent - the lowest level recorded since 2009.

The fall was seen as a positive for French president Emmanuel Macron, who has introduced reforms to make it easier for companies to hire and fire staff in the hopes that this will kick-start the labour market.

But despite the improvement, France still has one of the higher unemployment rates within the EU, and major job losses from a no-deal Brexit would undoubtedly be a blow to the economy.

In an effort to mitigate job losses, France has launched a series of effort to attract British-based businesses or organisations to France after Brexit.

Meanwhile, a separate data set published in the Financial Times this week showed how personal finances would be hit across Europe under a no-deal scenario, with the UK again worst hit.