Unemployment fell in the first quarter to 8.7% of the labour force, according to preliminary figures from INSEE published Thursday 16th May, 2019.
The unemployment rate is down 0.1 point to 8.7% of the workforce in France (excluding Mayotte) in the fourth quarter of 2018, its lowest level since early 2009 , according to provisional figures from INSEE published Thursday, May 16, 2019.
In metropolitan France alone, this rate, measured by the National Institute of Statistics according to the standards of the International Labor Office (ILO), also fell by 0.1 point to 8.4%, which represents 2.4 million unemployed and 19,000 less in one quarter.
This decline is less pronounced than that of the previous quarter, which was down 0.3 percentage points, or 90,000 unemployed.
Over a year, the entire France rate (excluding Mayotte) as metropolitan dropped by 0.5%.
In metropolitan France, the rate is identical for men and women at 8.4%.
On the rise among young people
By age group, the unemployment rate for 15-24 year olds is up 0.4 percentage point to 19.2% even though it remains down 1.7 points year on year. That of over 50 is also up 0.3 point to 6.4% + 0.2 over one year). On the other hand, it fell for the 25-49 age group by 0.2 point to 7.7%.
The long-term unemployment rate stood at 3.3% of the labour force, down 0.1 points in the quarter and 0.3 points in one year. Some 963,000 people say they have been looking for a job for more than a year.
The “halo around unemployment” is down sharply. Those who want to work but are not counted because they do not actively seek or are not available immediately were down 80,000 in the first quarter. This halo is about 1.4 million people.
Highest level of employment rate since 2003
The share of underemployment, ie people who want to work more, as part-time employees, is also down (-0.4 percentage point over the quarter) to 5.3% of people in employment. employment.
Finally, the employment rate, that is the proportion of 15-64-year-olds working, is stable at 66.1%. For the full-time employment rate, at 54.5%, it is the “highest level since 2003”, beginning of the quarterly series according to INSEE.
