French Unemployment Rate Declines to 12.6%: The...

French Unemployment Rate Declines to 12.6%: The nation’s jobless rate fell in October by 17,700 people, the largest monthly decline in six years, for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12.6%, the Labor Ministry said. The surprise drop, from 12.7% in September, still leaves France atop the jobless rate of the Group of Seven industrialized countries, ahead of Italy, whose unemployment rate is 11.9%. But the decline, coming after two consecutive months of rises, was a plus for the conservative government of Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, which is anxious to show its job-creation policies are delivering the goods ahead of May’s presidential elections.