France's Unemployment Rate Getting Worse

President says 2013 will be a "great battle for jobs"

French President François Hollande has hailed 2013 as the year of the "great battle for jobs". But figures released Thursday show a rise in the jobless rate for the nineteenth consecutive month – and the forecast is for worse to come.

France's faltering economy shed a further 30,000 jobs in November, according to new figures released Thursday, pushing the unemployment rate to its highest level in almost 15 years.

The alarming data, although expected, is another blow to the country's Socialist government and its president, who called earlier in the day for a collective "mobilisation" to deal with the ongoing employment crisis.