5 December 2013

2013- n° 280

Unemployment rate increases by 0.1 point in Q3 2013 ILO Unemployment and Labour Market-related indicators (Labour Force Survey results) - 3rd quarter 2013

Warning: Since the first quarter of 2013, the questionnaire of the Labour Force Survey is an updated one. Some questions were renewed, mainly in the objective to make the interviews more fluent thanks to a better wording of the questions. In addition, interviewers of Insee are working under new employment contracts since January 1 ^st 2013, which led to temporary difficulties in the organisation of the network of interviewers and a decrease in the response rate.

The assessment of the data shows that the new questionnaire has changed the way some interviewees answer to certain questions. This has impacts on the estimates of levels.

As the previous publication, this Informations Rapides is focused on the estimates of 2013 once the updating of the questionnaire is neutralized. Thus the estimates are directly comparable to the estimates of the fourth quarter of 2012 and to the usual longitudinal data, and can be directly used to analyse the recent developments of the indicators of the labour market. The impacts of the updated questionnaire are detailed in the document “ C ompléments méthodologique s ” in the part “For further information” of the previous publication (document in French).

For the release of the last quarter estimates, in March 2014, estimates will be published integrating the impact of the new questionnaire. Longitudinal series will be revised and made available at the same time.

In Q3 2013, the average ILO unemployment rate in metropolitan France and overseas departments stood at 10.9%, after neutralization of the effects of the updated questionnaire. In metropolitan France only, 10.5% of the active population was unemployed. The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points q-o-q. Over a year, it increased by 0.6 point.

The ILO unemployment rate of Q2 2013 downgraded by 0.1 point with regard to the temporary publication of September 2013.

The employment rate of the population aged 15-64 years was steady in Q3 2013 and over the year, and stood at 63.9%. The employment rate of people aged 50-64 years increased by 0.2 point in Q3 2013; for people aged 25-49 years, the increase was by 0.1 point. The employment rate of people aged 15-24 years decreased by 0.4 point.

The activity rate of the population aged 15-64 years increased by 0.1 percentage point and stood at 71.4%. Over the year, it increased by 0.5 percentage point. A part of this increase is due to people aged 50-64 years, whose activity rate increased by 1.3 percentage point over the year.

For this publication, the effects of the new questionnaire were neutralized to be comparable with the previous results already published. According to the new Labour Force survey, the unemployment rate stood at 10.2% of the active population in Q3 2013, after 10.1% in Q2 2013.

For the release of the last quarter estimates, new longitudinal series will be published in March 2014.