A snapshot of the labour market in 2010: unemployment and underemployment on the rise since 2008

In 2010, 25.7 million people in France were employed and 2.7 million were unemployed under the ILO definition. Out of ten people at work, one was self-employed, five were manual or clerical workers, and four were managers, professionals, or in intermediate occupations. A large majority of employees were working under an open-ended contract, but the proportion of other types of contract (temping, apprenticeship, and fixed-term contracts) was rising significantly, especially among the youngest workers. Six percent of people in jobs were underemployed, a situation more common among young people, clerical workers, and women. Since 2008, unemployment has been spreading to management-level and high-skilled workers, previously the most sheltered. Unemployment has risen most steeply among the over-50s, although the youngest and lowest-skilled workers remain the hardest hit.