Corrects headline and intro
Unemployment rate in France rose to its highest level in nearly sixteen years in the third quarter, the latest figures from the statistical office Insee revealed Thursday.
The ILO measure of unemployment rate in metropolitan France and overseas departments edged up to 10.9 percent in the third quarter from a revised 10.8 percent in the second quarter.
A higher rate was last recorded in the fourth quarter of 1997, when the jobless rate stood at 11 percent. Economists had forecast an increase to 11 percent in the third quarter.
In metropolitan France alone, the unemployment rate was 10.5 percent, up slightly from 10.4 percent in the second quarter.
The employment rate of the population aged 15-64 years was steady at 63.9 percent in the third quarter. This was also the same as that in the third quarter of 2012.
Data released by the Labor Ministry last week showed that France's jobless claims declined by 20,500 or 0.6 percent in October to 3.275 million. The fall was from a record high in September.
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