French jobless rate falls

France's unemployment rate fell to 10.2 percent in the fourth quarter, providing the first quarterly decline in two years and a boost for President Francois Hollande, Reuters reported. The unemployment rate, measured according to the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) criteria, was calculated under a new method that substantially modified the statistics. The third-quarter figure was revised downward to 10.3 percent from 10.9 percent previously, data from the INSEE statistics office showed on Thursday. That third quarter figure was the highest unemployment rate since 2007. The data is a rare piece of upbeat news for Hollande, who has struggled with rising unemployment since his election in May 2012 and failed last year to start reversing the trend as he had pledged.