Unemployment rate is nearly stable in Q3, but up since last year

Unemployment is stagnating. In the third quarter, the unemployment rate in France stood at 8.2% of the active population, a very slight drop of 0.1 point compared to the previous three months, according to figures published Tuesday by INSEE. Over one year, however, the trend is less favorable, with an increase of 0.4 points.

According to the International Labor Office (ILO), 2.6 million people were unemployed and actively looking for work between July and September, or 47,000 fewer than in the previous quarter. Young people most affected This slight improvement does not concern all age categories.

Among people aged 50 and over, unemployment even increased by 0.1 point, to 5.6%. It thus reached its highest level since the first quarter of 2022. Young people remain the most affected, with an unemployment rate of 21% among 15-24 year olds.

This nevertheless fell by 0.5 points over the quarter. For those aged 25-49, the drop is 0.2 points, to 7.3%. Unemployment has also evolved differently depending on gender.

It decreased by 0.3 points among women, to 7.8%, while it increased slightly among men, to 8.6%. The government welcomes the resilience of employment Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou welcomed these results, estimating that the French labor market “is doing better than resisting” despite international and trade tensions. He also stressed that companies continue to recruit.

However, INSEE provides clarification on the evolution of the figures since January 2025 and the implementation of the law for full employment. RSA beneficiaries and young people aged 15 to 29 registered with France Travail contribute “for a little less than half of the increase in the unemployment rate”.

Machine-translated from French