Labour market — France · Synthesis

Unemployment close to its lows in forty years. The unemployment rate on the ILO definition stands at around 7.3% at end-2024 (INSEE, Labour Force Survey), after dropping below 7% in 2023 — an unprecedented floor since the early 1980s (excluding the 2008 trough). The decline is clear since the 2015 peak (>10%), driven by labour-market reforms, apprenticeship and the post-Covid recovery. The level nevertheless remains above that of Germany and the United Kingdom.

An employment rate at an all-time high. The employment rate for 15-64 year-olds reaches around 68.5% in 2024 (INSEE), its highest level since the series began. The rise has been continuous since the mid-2010s and is due both to the economic conjuncture, the increase in apprenticeship and reforms (unemployment insurance, pensions). The activity rate (labour force relative to the working-age population) follows the same upward slope, around 74-75%.

The two weak spots: youth and seniors. Unemployment among 15-24 year-olds remains high, around 19% in 2024 (INSEE), reflecting a more bumpy school-to-work transition than among the northern neighbours — apprenticeship has reduced it without aligning it. At the other end, the employment rate of 55-64 year-olds (~58-59%, DARES/Eurostat) remains well below the European average: it is one of the explicit stakes of the 2023 pension reform and of the "seniors" policies.

Jobseekers and recruitment tensions coexist. France Travail counts several million registrants (categories A, B, C), with a decline in category A over the recent period. At the same time, DARES and the labour-needs surveys document persistent recruitment tensions in health, construction, hospitality-catering, industry and care professions — a paradox of a market both still marked by unemployment and confronted with sectoral shortages.

Job quality: part-time and atypical forms. The share of part-time work stands at around 17-18% (INSEE), predominantly female, a fraction of it involuntary. The use of fixed-term contracts and temporary work, the share of "short contracts" and the segmentation of the market remain subjects of DARES analysis, as does the evolution of real wages after the inflationary episode (cf. Prices category).

The full-employment goal, a stated objective. The target of an unemployment rate around 5% ("full employment") structures employment policy: transformation of Pôle emploi into France Travail (2024), reinforced conditionality of the RSA with support, reform of unemployment insurance. Achieving this objective presupposes sufficient growth (cf. Economy category) and remains, at this stage, a horizon and not realized data.

Senior employment, the test of the pension reform. The raising of the legal age (from 62 to 64, 2023 law) will produce the expected effect on the senior employment rate only if end-of-career employability improves. The debates — seniors index, prevention of wear-and-tear, combining employment and pension, negotiation on transitions — bear precisely on this point; the first effects will show up gradually in the DARES/INSEE series.

Apprenticeship and training, levers of the youth transition. The strong rise in apprenticeship (more than one million apprentices) has contributed to the decline in youth unemployment; its budgetary sustainability and its targeting are debated (cf. Education category). Vocational training (CPF, Skills Investment Plan) remains the central instrument for responding to recruitment tensions and to the retraining linked to the ecological and digital transitions.

Ecological and digital transitions: a recomposition of professions. France Stratégie and DARES anticipate a recomposition of skills needs (green jobs, care, decarbonized industry) and demographic tensions linked to the retirement of the baby-boomers. The match between training and employment becomes a stake of growth potential as much as of integration.

The open questions. Three trade-offs will shape the period: (1) moving closer to full employment without degrading job quality; (2) raising the employment of seniors and youth, where the gap with the best-performing countries is concentrated; (3) resolving recruitment tensions through training, mobility and the attractiveness of shortage professions.

Placed in its environment, France appears as a labour market clearly improving but still behind the best performers: its unemployment has fallen sharply, its employment rate is at an all-time high, but the gap with Germany and the Nordic countries persists, especially at the extreme ages.

Three takeaways. (1) Unemployment: still above the best. At ~7.3% in 2024, France remains above Germany (~3.4%), the United Kingdom (~4.4%) and the EU average (~6%), at a level close to Italy (~6.5-7%). The gap has narrowed over the decade but has not closed.

(2) Employment rate: a national record, below the EU average. The French employment rate, although at an all-time high, remains below the European average and very far from Germany. The difference is almost entirely due to seniors (55-64) and youth, where France falls behind the most.

(3) Youth: a structural weak spot. With unemployment among 15-24 year-olds close to 19%, France sits near Italy and well above Germany (~6-7%) and the EU average (~14-15%). The school-to-work transition — quality of guidance, apprenticeship, first job — remains the main lever for alignment.