French Jobless Rate Falls to 8.4%, But Data Reliability Is Questioned - WSJ.com March 30, 2007 <a href="/keyword/dow-jones-reprints/" ><a href="/keyword/dow-jones/" >dow jones</a> reprints</a> This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order <a href="/keyword/reprints-tool/" >reprints tool</a> at the bottom of any article or visit: www.djreprints.com. See a <a href="/keyword/sample-reprint/" >sample reprint</a> in PDF format. Order a reprint of this article now. French Jobless Rate Falls to 8.4%, But Data Reliability Is Questioned By GABRIELE PARUSSINI March 30, 2007 PARIS -- The French Labor Ministry said Thursday that unemployment fell to 8.4% in February, its lowest rate in almost a quarter of a century, but the reliability of the figures is being questioned. The fall in joblessness, which retreated from 8.5% in January, bodes well for the governing UMP party less than a month ahead of presidential elections. But the data are under scrutiny after national statistics office Insee, which compiles the jobless data, announced in March that it delayed the publication of final 2006 figures because the high number of nonrespondents hurt its polls. The February rate was below the expectations of economists surveyed by <a href="/keyword/dow-jones/" >dow jones</a> Newswires, who had forecast unemployment to hold steady at 8.5%. &quot;The figure will remain preliminary until Insee has fixed the...problem,&quot; Dominique Barbet, an economist at BNP Paribas, said in a note. Write to Gabriele Parussini at [e-mail]1 URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117520535624053693.html Hyperlinks in this Article: (1) mailto:[e-mail] Copyright 2007 <a href="/keyword/dow-jones/" >dow jones</a> &amp; Compan...