More owners over the past fifty years: adverse side effects to be expected on employment?

Although owner status is generally associated with a better labour market situation, an increase in ownership density at the local level goes hand in hand with an increase in unemployment. This paradox, highlighted in a great deal of research, is examined here for France, where property has developed considerably over the last fifty years. It can be understood as the result of two effects. First of all, owners are less often unemployed than tenants: a higher density of owners therefore automatically lowers the unemployment rate. Secondly, a high-density homeowner community can create tensions in the housing market: these tensions are likely to complicate job-seeking among the unemployed, for example by limiting their opportunities to find housing close to job offers. Data from successive population censuses between 1968 and 2011 make it possible to estimate the magnitude of these effects for France. It emerges that the second effect prevails over the former: in particular, a 10 percentage point increase in ownership density at the local level is thought to be associated with labour market friction, increasing the local unemployment rate by around 1.3 percentage point. The result of the two effects is believed to be moderate nevertheless, representing 0.6 percentage points for local unemployment.