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New unemployment rate increase in Q1 2012

The unemployment rate

The unemployment rate increased by 0.3 point in Q1 2012 in metropolitan France

In Q1 2012, the average ILO unemployment rate in metropolitan France and overseas departments stood at 10.0% of the active population.

In metropolitan France only, with 2.7 million unemployed people, 9.6% of the active population was unemployed, as well for men and women. The unemployment rate increased by 0.3 point q-o-q after an increase of 0.1 in Q3 2011. It is as high as in 1999.

More generally, in metropolitan France, 3.5 million people did not work but would like to work, whether they are available or not for work within two weeks, or whether they look actively for a job or not (see additional indicators on the internet).

ILO-unemployment rate

ILO-unemployment rate

Estimation close to +/-0.3 point of the unemployment rate Estimation close to +/-0.3 point of the quaterly variation of the unemployment rate France = Metropolitan France + overseas departments

Covers the population of people living in households, people aged 15 years or more

Source: INSEE, Labour Force Survey

Ilo-unemployment rate in metropolitan France
Seasonally adjusted, average over quarter - Metropolitan France
*(p) = provisional results
Covers the population of people living in households in metropolitan France, people aged 15 years or more
Source: INSEE, Labour Force Survey
ILO-unemployment rate (%) Variation in point Thousands
2011Q4 2012Q1 (p)* over quarter over year 2012Q1 (p)*
Total 9,3 9,6 0,3 0,4 2 746
15-24 years 22,3 22,5 0,2 –0,2 630
25-49 years 8,6 8,9 0,3 0,7 1 619
50 years and more 6,4 6,6 0,2 0,4 498
Men 9,1 9,6 0,5 1,0 1 436
15-24 years 22,0 22,7 0,7 1,6 348
25-49 years 8,1 8,7 0,6 1,1 821
50 years and more 6,3 6,8 0,5 0,9 267
Women 9,6 9,6 0,0 –0,2 1 310
15-24 years 22,7 22,2 –0,5 –2,4 282
25-49 years 9,0 9,2 0,2 0,3 798
50 years and more 6,6 6,3 –0,3 –0,3 231

ILO employment and activity

The employment rate of the population aged 15-64 years decreased by 0.1 point in Q1 2012 and stood at 63.8%.

Permanent and temporary contract employment rate (15-64 years)

Permanent and temporary contract employment rate (15-64 years)

Covers the population of people living in households, people aged 15-64 years

Source: INSEE, Labour Force Survey

Permanent contracts increased by 0.1 point in Q1 2012, at 48.8% of the population aged 15-64. Temporary contracts are stable over the year, at 6.8%.

ILO employment, unemployment and activity in the population aged 15-64 years
Seasonally adjusted, average over quarter - Metropolitan France
*(p) = provisional results
Covers the population of people living in households in metropolitan France, people aged 15 years or more
(1) those data cover the people who are 15-64 years old. They are a little bit different of the data in table 1 (which covers the total population).
Source: INSEE, Labour Force Survey
% of people in the age group Variation in point Thousands (1)
2011Q4 2012Q1 (p)* Over quarter Over year 2012Q1 (p)*
Employed people (15-64 years) 63,9 63,8 –0,1 –0,1 25 554
Full-time equivalent employment rate 59,4 59,3 –0,1 –0,2 23 761
Men aged 15-64 67,9 67,8 –0,1 –0,5 13 342
Women aged 15-64 59,9 60,0 0,1 0,4 12 211
15-24 years 29,4 29,3 –0,1 –0,6 2 173
25-49 years 81,3 80,9 –0,4 –1,0 16 535
50-64 years 55,6 56,2 0,6 1,9 6 845
Included : 55-64 years 42,8 43,5 0,7 3,0 3 487
Core employment rate of 55-64 years 42,7 43,3 0,6 3,0
Unemployed persons (15-64 years) 6,6 6,8 0,2 0,3 2 739
Men aged 15-64 6,8 7,3 0,5 0,8 1 433
Women aged 15-64 6,4 6,4 0,0 –0,1 1 306
15-24 years 8,4 8,5 0,1 –0,3 630
25-49 years 7,6 7,9 0,3 0,5 1 619
50-64 years 3,9 4,0 0,1 0,3 490
Included : 55-64 years 3,0 3,1 0,1 0,3 248
Active people (15-64 years) 70,5 70,7 0,2 0,3 28 292
Men aged 15-64 74,7 75,1 0,4 0,4 14 775
Women aged 15-64 66,4 66,4 0,0 0,3 13 517
15-24 years 37,8 37,7 –0,1 –1,0 2 802
25-49 years 88,9 88,9 0,0 –0,4 18 154
50-64 years 59,5 60,2 0,7 2,3 7 336
Included : 55-64 years 45,7 46,6 0,9 3,3 3 735
Active life expectancy of 55-64 years (years) 4,6 4,6 0,0 0,3

The full time equivalent employment rate was lower by 4 points than the employment rate: it stood at 59.3% on average in Q1 2012.

The activity rate of the 15-64 years increased by 0.2 point, at 70.7%.

Slack work is stable

In Q1 2012, 5.2% of the persons employed were underemployed. Slack work increased by 0.2 point, at 0.4%.

The unwanted part-time was 4.8% of the employed (see additional indicators on the internet).

ILO underemployment
Seasonally adjusted, average over quarter - Metropolitan France
*(p) = provisional results
Covers the population of people living in households in metropolitan France, people aged 15 years or more
Source : INSEE, Labour Force Survey
ILO underemployment rate (%) Variation in point Thousands
2011Q4 2012Q1 (p)* Over a quarter Over a year 2012Q1 (p)*
Total 5,2 5,2 0,0 0,4 1 346
Included : slack work 0,2 0,4 0,2 0,2 98
Women 8,1 7,8 –0,3 0,3 974
Men 2,7 2,7 0,0 0,6 372

Revision

The ILO unemployment rates of Q3 and Q4 2011 downgraded by 0,1 point with regard to the temporary publication. In this quarter, besides the usual revisions, the weighting of the labour force survey was revised to include the results of the census 2009.

Informations Rapides

n° 142 - June 7, 2012

ILO Unemployment and Labour Market-related indicators (Labour Force Survey results) - 1st Quarter 2012

For further information

Links

Time series data

More: Long time series about the labour market, data on January 2010, in French only

Local data, in French only

Metropolitan France

unemployment by "régions", by "départements", and by employment area

Unemployment in overseas departments

Guadeloupe, La Réunion, Martinique, Guyane

See also

Publications, in French only

Previous methodology

The series published until July 2007: methodology and data (.PDF, 25 KB), in French only

New

Since July 2009, display of the Informations Rapides has changed.