Informations Rapides · 25 June 2024 · n° 157

In Q1 2024, payroll employment was almost stable or up slightly in all regions Localized employment and unemployment rates (by region and department) - first quarter 2024

Between the end of December 2023 and the end of March 2024, payroll employment in France as a whole (excluding Mayotte) rose by 0.3%, after remaining stable in the fourth quarter of 2023.

At regional level, payroll employment was almost stable (between ‑0.1% and +0.1%) in one third of the regions, including three of the four overseas regions. It increased by between 0.2% and 0.3% in seven regions, and more significantly in Occitanie, Île-de-France, Bretagne and Guyane.

The situation is more varied at the departmental level: variations between departments within the same region can be very different. This was the case, for example, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, where payroll employment in Charente-Maritime was more dynamic (+0.6%) than in the other departments of the region, particularly Charente, Creuse, or Vienne, where payroll employment was down by between 0.3% and 0.6%. This was also the case in Hauts-de-France, where payroll employment rose in the Nord (+0.4%) and fell in Oise (‑0.3%) and in Somme (‑0.2%). Val-d’Oise and Hautes-Pyrénées were the departments with the biggest increase in payroll employment (+1.0%).

Overall, payroll employment was almost stable in the first quarter of 2024 in 28 departments. It rose from 0.2% to 0.3% in 34 departments, by between 0.4% and 0.5% in 19 departments, and by at least 0.6% in 8 departments. Conversely, it fell in 11 departments, particularly in Territoire-de-Belfort (‑0.7%) and Creuse (‑0.6%).

At the national level, in Q1 2024, total payroll employment was 0.7% higher than in Q1 2023.

Payroll employment was above its level of one year earlier (by at least 0.2%) in all regions except in Grand Est and Corse, where it was almost stable. In four regions, payroll employment increased slightly (from +0.2% to +0.4%), and by 0.5% in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and 0.6% in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Over one year, payroll employment increased by between 0.7% and less than 1.2% in one third of the regions. Lastly, it was well above its level of a year earlier in Bretagne (+1.5%) and Guyane (+2.6%).

At the end of March 2024, payroll employment was higher than a year earlier in 69 of the 100 departments (excluding Mayotte), and it was below its March 2023 level in 17 departments. It was almost stable (between ‑0.1% and +0.1%) in 14 departments.

Among the regions where payroll employment increased over one year faster than the national average, Bretagne stood out for its consistent and particularly dynamic trends across the different departments, with increases ranging from 1.3% in Morbihan to 1.6% in Finistère.

At departmental level, payroll employment increased the most over one year in Val-d’Oise (+2.0%) and, conversely, fell the most sharply in Charente (‑0.9%).

Nationwide (excluding Mayotte), the unemployment rate was stable at 7.5% in Q1 2024. Compared with its level a year earlier, it was up by 0.4 points.

Between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, the unemployment rate increased in all regions except Guadeloupe (‑0.8 points) and Martinique (‑0.5 points). The rise was below the national level in three regions: Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Bretagne and Pays de la Loire. In almost half the regions, the unemployment rate increased at the same rate as at national level. The unemployment rate rose faster than the national average in four regions: +0.5 points in Grand Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Corse, and +2.9 points in Guyane.

Over one year, the unemployment rate fell in two departments, it was almost stable in nine departments, and was up in all the others. It rose slightly less than the national level in a third of departments, and at the same rate in a quarter of departments. It rose by more than the national level in 30 departments, with the biggest increase observed in metropolitan France in the Pyrénées Orientales (+0.8 points).

In the first quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate was higher than the national level (7.5%) in three regions in metropolitan France: Hauts-de-France (9.2%), Occitanie (8.9%) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (8.1%). In the French overseas regions, it was notably higher, ranging from 11.7% in Martinique to 19.0% in Guadeloupe. Conversely, the unemployment rate was the lowest in Pays de la Loire (5.9%) and Bretagne (6.0%). In these two regions, unemployment rates were lower than the national average in all departments. By contrast, in Île-de-France, where the unemployment rate was lower than the national level (7.1%), it was lower in Paris (5.8%) and Hauts-de-Seine (6.0%) but higher in Seine-Saint-Denis (10.5%). The situation was also very mixed in Occitanie: the region includes Lozère, the department with the second lowest unemployment rate in France (4.8%) and Pyrénées-Orientales, where the rate is the highest in metropolitan France (12.4%).