Hollande claims jobless trend has been turned round

Despite a sharp rise in the number of unemployed in France in November, President Francois Hollande claimed Thursday that he had managed to reverse the rising trend in joblessness in the economy. The Labour Ministry announced today that the number of people out of work here had risen to 3.29 million last month, a hike of 17,800 and a fresh rise after two months of declines in jobless levels in September and October. Hollande had vowed to reverse rising unemployment by the end of the year. "The figures for unemployment in November (+17,800) have attenuated those of October (-20,500), but they so not modify the trend. The inversion of the unemployment curve, to which I committed, has been well started," Hollande said in a statement. But many analysts say this claim is purely cosmetic and statistics agencies say unemployment will nonetheless soon rise to 11 percent of the workforce compared with 10.9 percent today.