Informations Rapides · 8 January 2026 · n° 3

In Q3 2025, payroll employment was stable in most regions Localized employment and unemployment rates (by region and department) - third quarter 2025

Between the end of June 2025 and the end of September 2025, payroll employment in France as a whole (excluding Mayotte) was stable (0.0%) following a slight increase (+0.2%) in the second quarter of 2025.

In Q3 2025, payroll employment was stable or nearly stable in ten regions. It declined in five regions, falling particularly by more than 0.3% in Guadeloupe (-0.4%). It increased by 0.2% or more in two regions: Guyane (+0.5%) and La Réunion (+0.2%).

At the departmental level, payroll employment was virtually stable in more than 40% of departments. It fell by more than 0.2% in more than 40% of departments, with two departments seeing a decline of more than 0.8%: Aube (-0.9%) and Marne (-1.5%). On the other hand, payroll employment increased by at least 0.2% in seventeen departments. The increase was greater than 0.4% in Var and Hautes-Alpes and than 0.5% in Guyane, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-d'Oise.

At the national level, in Q3 2025, total payroll employment declined compared to the third quarter of 2024 (-0.2 %), whereas it had increased by 0.5 % between Q3 2023 and Q4 2024.

At the end of September 2025, payroll employment was at least 0.3% lower than a year earlier in ten regions. The decline was more pronounced in three metropolitan regions, Nouvelle-Aquitaine (-0.7%), Grand-Est (-0.8%), Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (-0.9%), and in two overseas regions, Martinique (-0.6%) and Guadeloupe (-0.8%). In three regions, payroll employment was up over one year: La Réunion (+0.2%), Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (+0.4%) and Guyane (+1.5%).

Payroll employment fell in nearly six out of ten departments. It declined by more than 0.8% in eighteen departments, all in mainland France, located mainly in the agricultural regions of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Grand Est. This decline was partly due to a particularly early harvest in 2025, which was more concentrated in August than usual, resulting in an unusually low number of jobs in the agricultural sector in September. Payroll employment fell most sharply in Marne (-2.1%), Aude (-2.1%), Orne (-1.9%) and Haute-Marne (-1.8%).

In contrast, payroll employment increased by between 0.2% and 1.5% in twenty departments in metropolitan France, nearly two-thirds of which are located in the south of metropolitan France.

In the third quarter of 2025, across the whole country (excluding Mayotte), the ILO unemployment rate rose over the year (+0.3 points). It stood at 7.7 % of the labor force.

Between the third quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate rose in thirteen regions: it increased by 0.2 to 0.4 points for eight of them, with the sharpest rises in Île-de-France (+0.6 points) and Martinique (+3.8 points). Over one year, it remained virtually stable (between -0.1 and +0.1 points included) in the Grand Est region and fell in three regions, all of which are overseas territories: by 0.8 points in La Réunion, 1.1 points in Guyane, and 1.9 points in Guadeloupe.

In the third quarter of 2025, the unemployment rate was highest in the French overseas regions, ranging from 14.4% in Martinique to 16.8% in Guyane. In metropolitan France, three regions have unemployment rates higher than the national average (7.7%): Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (8.2%), Occitanie (9.2%) and Hauts-de-France (9.2%). Conversely, the unemployment rate was lowest in Pays de la Loire (6.2%) and Bretagne (6.3%). In these two regions, unemployment rates in all departments was below the national average. The situation within other regions could be much more varied, for example in Île-de-France or Occitanie. In Île-de-France, where the unemployment rate measured across the region (7.6%) was close to the national level, it was lower in Paris (6.1%) and Hauts-de-Seine (6.7%), and conversely higher in Seine-Saint-Denis (10.8%). The contrast was even greater in Occitanie, between Lozère, the department with the second lowest unemployment rate in France (4.8%) and Pyrénées-Orientales, where it was the highest in metropolitan France (12.2%).