Snapshot of the labour market in 2014

In 2014 in metropolitan France, 25.8 million people had a job and 2.8 million were unemployed, within the meaning of the ILO. An ever-increasing proportion of jobs (77%) was concentrated in the services sector and almost nine out of ten workers in the occupied labour force were salaried employees. A little over three-quarters of those in the occupied labour force had an open-ended contract, but young people, who have only recently entered the job market, were less likely to have this type of contract. Underemployment affects women to a very large extent and also unqualified workers, and it stood at 6.4% of the occupied labour force. In metropolitan France, unemployment concerned 9.9% of the labour force in 2014, the same as in 2013. Since 2012, the unemployment rate for men has been higher than that for women, and the gap widened in 2014. Unemployment is more frequent among the under-25s, but longer lasting for their elders, and especially for older workers, of whom more than six out of ten have been unemployed for over a year. By adding the unemployed to the “halo” around unemployment, there were more than 4.2 million people without a job and wanting to work in 2014, i.e. 100,000 more in just one year. When the overseas departments were included (excluding Mayotte), the unemployment rate reached 10.3% in 2014 with 4.5 million people without a job and wanting to work.