Alcatel-Lucent to cut 5000 jobs

French telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent said it would cut 5,000 jobs as a cost saving measure. The firm said the loss of 5,000 employees out of 72,500 it employs worldwide is part of a restructuring plan intended to save $1.5 billion by the end of 2013, Radio France International reported Friday. The layoffs, plus job cuts announced at Air France and at pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, are a setback for the government of President Francois Hollande, which has promised to increase employment, the report said. Automaker Peugeot-Citroen recently announced it would cut 8,000 jobs. Unemployment is close to 10 percent in France, with nearly 3 million members of the workforce unemployed.