France, social portrait 2016 Edition
France, Social Portrait is for everyone who would like to learn more about French society. This cross-cutting publication in the “Insee Références” collection throws the spotlight on young people in France. Three reports provide an in-depth analysis of different aspects of French society. Around forty themed information sheets summarise the main data and provide European comparisons, to complete this social panorama. More information is available only in French on the French pages of the website.
Integration of young people into the job market: most of those with the highest diplomas are in employment, inactivity predominates for those who are unqualified
Christel Aliaga et Jérôme Lê
On average over the period 2013-2015, 68% of young people who had left full-time education in the last 1 to 4 years were in employment, 17% were unemployed and the rest were inactive. The integration of young people into the job market is gradual and uneven as it depends on the level of diploma. 82% of young people leaving higher education with a diploma are in work, compared to only 31% of unqualified young people, more of whom are inactive (37%). Young women are more often inactive than young men, especially among the least qualified.
Among active young people leaving full-time education, half of those who are unqualified are unemployed, compared with a quarter for those with a high school diploma and one in ten for those with a higher education diploma. Active young women are less often unemployed than their male counterparts (19% against 22%), mainly because on average they have a higher level of qualification.
The unemployment rate for active young people leaving full-time education in the last 1 to 4 years increased substantially during the 2008-2009 crisis, more than that of active people who had been present on the job market for a longer time. Since then, it has stabilised overall at around 20% for those coming out of full-time education recently, but it has continued to increase for the rest.
Employment conditions for unqualified young people leaving full-time education are less favourable. 58% of unqualified young people who are in work have a temporary job and 22% are under-employed, compared with 25% and 6% respectively of graduates from long courses in higher education. Employment conditions for women are also less favourable than those for men.
From one year to the next, when they leave a temporary job, young people who have completed their studies and have a higher education diploma are twice as likely as unqualified young people to find a stable position. Similarly, when they are unemployed, they are twice as likely to be in employment one year later than those without qualifications. Finally, the training speciality has a determining influence on access to employment and the type of jobs young people have at the start of their careers.