Insee Focus ·
June 2023 · n° 303
The unemployment halo, 2.5 to 5 times more prevalent in the French overseas departments
than in mainland France
On average in 2021-2022, people in the unemployment halo represented 10% to 21% of the population aged 15 to 64 in the French overseas departments, compared with 4% in mainland France. Overseas, a higher proportion than in mainland France were not actively looking for work. Discouragement was more often cited as the reason for not looking for work in Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion Island and Guyana, with more than a quarter of people in the halo in Guadeloupe and Reunion Island. In these four departments, the proportion of people in the unemployment halo who had never worked or had not worked for two years or more was higher than in mainland France. In Mayotte, 9 out of 10 people in the halo had never had a non-occasional job.