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French unemployment falls again in February

PARIS: France's brisk economic growth trimmed dole queues again in February, boosting government hopes for a record job creation year.

The Employment Ministry said on Friday that unemployment fell 65,500 in February, cutting the jobless rate to 10.2 percent from 10.5 percent in January, and beating forecasts of a decline to 10.4 percent.

"We are winning the battle against unemployment," Employment Minister Martine Aubry told France Inter radio. "We will soon be below 10 percent."

The fall extended an almost continuous decline in France's unemployment since June 1997, when the unemployment rate was 12.6 percent, and bolstered economists' predictions of a dip below 10 percent by the end of 2000.-Reuters