The currently low unemployment rate – which remained stable at 7.1% in the first quarter of 2023 – indicates France can reach its full employment goal, said President Emmanuel Macron, who in 2022, committed to a 5% full employment rate by 2027.
On Wednesday, INSEE published the country’s unemployment figures for the first quarter of 2023 which remain stable compared to the last quarter of 2022.
“Unemployment figures have never been so low in 40 years. One goal: full employment!” Macron tweeted.
The unemployment rate has not been this low since 1982, excluding the year 2020, when it had reached 7%. At the time, it had “fallen sharply in a ‘trompe-l’œil’ manner” due to generous government measures, including a widespread furlough scheme.
Unemployment rates of the 15-24 age bracket have decreased slightly, from 16.8% to 16.6%. While the unemployment rate for 25 to 49-year-olds is also falling, it is rising for the over-50s (from 5% to 5.2%).
The rate of long-term unemployed, i.e. those unemployed for at least 12 months, decreased very slightly (from 1.9% to 1.8%).
On the other hand, the number of people in the unemployment ‘halo’ is up by 100,000 compared to Q3 2022, to 1.95 million. This ‘halo’ figure represents people who are inactive, as defined by the International Labour Office (ILO) but who are not actively looking for a job or are not available to take one, so they cannot be considered unemployed.
Labour specialist and MP Hadrien Clouet accused the government of “transforming full-time unemployed into part-time precarious”. According to him, 40% of those registered to look for a job have been given one, so they drop off the statistics, yet do not have enough to live.”
(Davide Basso | EURACTIV.fr)
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