Informations Rapides · 24 June 2025 · n° 157

In Q1 2025, payroll employment was almost stable in most regions Localized employment and unemployment rates (by region and department) - first quarter 2025

Between the end of December 2024 and the end of March 2025, payroll employment in France as a whole (excluding Mayotte) was almost stable (-0.1%), after a decrease of 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024.

In Q1 2025, at regional level, payroll employment was virtually stable in almost all regions, and it increased by 0.2% in La Réunion. It decreased by 0.2% or 0.3% in two regions of metropolitan France (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté) and in two overseas regions (Guadeloupe and Martinique).

At the departmental level, payroll employment was almost stable in four departments out of ten. Payroll employment was down, by between 0.2% and 0.4% in 32 departments, and by 0.4% or more in 11 departments, notably in the Cantal and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (-0.7%) and Territoire de Belfort (-1.2%). Payroll employment was up by between 0.2% and 0.6% in fifteen departements.

At the national level, in Q1 2025, total payroll employment was below its level from a year ago by 0.3%, whereas it had risen by 0.7% between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024.

Payroll employment was below its level of one year earlier (by at least 0.2%) in three quarters of the regions. In metropolitan France, payroll employment was down in almost all regions, and the drop was more marked, between 0.6% and 0.8%, in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Normandie, with only one region reporting almost stable payroll employment (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur). In the French overseas regions, the situation is more contrasted, with a 1.1% drop in payroll employment in Martinique, a 1.2% rise in Guyane, and virtual stability in the other two overseas regions.

Payroll employment fell in more than seven departments out of ten, and fell by more than 0.8% in twenty departments. Fifteen of these are located in regions on a diagonal from Nouvelle-Aquitaine to Grand Est, via Centre-Val de Loire and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Payroll employment fell the most sharply in Haute-Saône and Territoire de Belfort (-1.8%).

In contrast, payroll employment rose by between 0.2% and 0.6% in eight departments in metropolitan France, including three in Île-de-France.

In Q1 2025, nationwide (excluding Mayotte), the ILO unemployment was almost stable over the quarter (+0.1 points) and over one year (-0.1 points), at 7.4% of the labour force.

Between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, the unemployment rate was almost stable (between ‑0.1 points and +0.1 points included) in eight regions on a diagonal from the West to the South-East, it increased in four regions and fell in five regions. The decline was by 0.2 or 0.3 points in three regions of metropolitan France (Corse, Hauts-de-France and Grand Est), it was more pronounced in Guadeloupe (‑1.4 points) and in La Réunion (‑2.1 points).The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 points in Île-de-France and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, and by more in Guyane (+0.5 points) and Martinique (+1.4 points).

In the first quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate was higher than or equal to the national level (7.4%) in three regions in metropolitan France: Hauts-de-France (8.9%), Occitanie (8.8%) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (7.9%). In the French overseas regions, it was clearly higher, with rates ranging from 12.8% in Martinique to 16.5% in La Réunion. Conversely, the unemployment rate was the lowest in Pays de la Loire and Bretagne (6.0%). In these two regions, unemployment rates were lower than the national average in all departments. Situations within a region can be much more contrasted, for example in Île-de-France or Occitanie. In Île-de-France, where the unemployment rate measured over the whole region (7.2%) was lower than the national level, it was lower at Paris (5.9%) and in Hauts-de-Seine (6.3%), and conversely higher in Seine-Saint-Denis (10.6%). The contrast was even stronger in Occitanie, between Lozère, which was the department with the second lowest unemployment rate in France (4.7%) and Pyrénées-Orientales, where the rate is the highest in metropolitan France (12.0%).