Unemployment in France
France's unemployment rate over the last decade gradually decreased, reflecting the country's efforts to reform the labor market and stimulate job creation. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a temporary setback, but by 2022, the unemployment rate was close to the lowest level since the late 2000s, indicating some progress in reforming France's jobs market. That said, the rate has since plateaued at slightly above 7%, reflective of mild economic growth and structural rigidities in the labor market.
The unemployment rate in France averaged 9.1% in the decade to 2022, slightly below the 9.2% average for the Euro Area. The unemployment rate in 2022 was 7.3%. For more unemployment information, visit our dedicated page.
France Unemployment Chart
Note: This chart displays Unemployment Rate for France from 2014 to 2024.
Source: Macrobond.
France Unemployment Data
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment (% of active population, aop) | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 7.4 |
| Unemployment (% of active population, eop) | 7.9 | 7.4 | 7.2 | 7.6 | 7.2 |
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects French unemployment projections for the next ten years from a panel of 32 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable unemployment forecast available for French unemployment.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our French unemployment projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of French unemployment forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.