Informations Rapides · 13 May 2026 · n° 113

In Q1 2026, the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 points to 8.1% ILO Unemployment and Labour Market-related indicators (Labour Force Survey results) - first quarter 2026

In Q1 2026, the number of unemployed people in France (excluding Mayotte) as defined by the International Labour Office (ILO) increased by 68,000 over the quarter and reached 2.6 million people. The ILO unemployment rate stood at 8.1% of the labour force, up by 0.2 points over the quarter and by 0.7 points over the year. It reached its highest level since Q1 2021 but remained clearly below its peak level reached in Q2 2015 (-2.4 points).

Over the quarter, the unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 fell back by 0.4 points, reaching 21.1%. However, the unemployment rate for people aged 25 to 49 increased by 0.4 points over the quarter, to 7.3%, reaching its highest level since Q1 2021. The unemployment rate for people aged 50 or more was virtually stable (+0.1 points), at 5.2 %. Over the year, the unemployment rate rose across all age groups: +2.0 points for people aged 15 to 24, +0.6 points for people aged 25 to 49 and +0.4 points for people aged 50 or more.

Women’s unemployment rate was virtually stable over the quarter (+0.1 points), at 7.7%, while men’s unemployment rate rose by 0.3 points, to 8.5%, reaching its highest level since Q1 2021. Over the year, the unemployment rate increased more for men (+1.0 point) than for women (+0.3 points).

Q1 2026 was also the fifth quarter in which the French “full employment Act” (Loi pour le plein emploi) was implemented: over those five quarters, RSA recipients and young people aged 15 to 29 registered with France Travail contributed to almost the half of the rise in the unemployment rate (see below).

Among the inactive people as defined by the ILO, 1.8 million wanted a job without being considered unemployed, because they either did not seek a job or were not immediately available: they made up the halo around unemployment. This number sharply decreased over the quarter (-62,000).

Thus, the share of halo in the population of people aged 15 to 64 slightly decreased: -0.1 points both over the quarter and over the year, to 4.3%. Over the quarter, the share of halo decreased by 0.5 points amongst people aged 15 to 24, to 7.1%, while it was stable for those aged 25 to 49 (at 4.2%) and for those aged 50 to 64 (at 2.8%).

Among the unemployed, 626,000 people on average declared being jobless and having been job seeking for at least one year in Q1 2026, that is 36,000 more than in the previous quarter. The long-term unemployment rate therefore slightly inceased over the quarter: +0.2 points, to 2.0% of the labour force. Over the year, it increased by 0.3 points. This rise only applied to men (+0.5 points over the year), the long-term unemployment rate for women was virtually stable (-0.1 points).

On average in Q1 2026, the employment rate of people aged 15 to 64 was virtually stable (+0.1 points) at 69.5%, very slightly below its highest level (69.6%) since INSEE started measuring it (1975), reached in both Q1 and Q2 2025.

For people aged 15 to 24, the employment rate rose by 0.2 points over the quarter to 34.4%; it remained however lower than its Q1 2025 level (-0.5 points). For people aged 25 to 49, the employment rate was stable over the quarter at 82.9%; it was also below its level from a year ago, (-0.2 points). Finally, among people aged 50 to 64, the employment rate was stable at 69.4% remaining at its highest level since INSEE started measuring it (1975). In particular, the employment rate for people aged 55 to 59 was virtually stable both over the quarter (-0.1 points) and over the year (+0.1 points), at 78.9%, while for people aged 60 to 64, it increased again (+0.3 points over the quarter and +1.2 points over the year), to 45.1%, its highest level since 1975.

Over the quarter, employment rate slightly increased for women (+0.2 points), to 67.3% while it slightly decreased for men (-0.2 points), to 71.7%. Over the year, evolutions were more pronounced: +0.4 points for women and -0.6 points for men.

In Q1 2026, the full-time employment rate was virtually stable over the quarter (+0.1 points), at 57.7%. Over the year, it decreased by 0.2 points. The part-time employment was stable over the quarter, at 11.8%, that is 0.1 points higher than its level from a year ago. The share of part-time employment in total employment was stable over the quarter, at 17.8%, that is 0.3 points higher than its level from a year ago and by 0.7 points above its lowest level since 1996 (17.1% in Q4 2022); however, it remained 1.0 point below its level at the end of 2019.

In Q1 2026, 4.4% of employed people were underemployed. This share was stable over the quarter and slightly increased over the year (+0.2 points). It remained 1.5 points below its end of 2019 level.

On average, in Q1 2026, 16.9% of participants in the labour market (active people or in the halo around unemployment) were constrained in their labour supply, either by the absence of a job (unemployed or halo around unemployment), or in a situation of underemployment. This share was stable over the quarter. It was 0.6 points higher than its level from a year ago but remained clearly below its level at the end of 2019 (-2.0 points).

In Q1 2026, the average number of hours worked per job was virtually stable both over the quarter and over the year, at 31.1 hours per week. Since mid-2022, the number of hours worked has slightly fluctuated around its level before the health crisis (31.3 hours in Q4 2019).

The permanent employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 was stable over the quarter, at 51.2%, that is 0.2 points below its level a year ago. The employment rate on fixed-term contract and temporary work was virtually stable over the quarter (-0.1 points) and over the year (+0.1 points), at 6.5%. The self-employment was stable over ther quarter and virtually stable over the year (+0.1 points), at 9.0%. The work-study employment rate was also virtually stable over the quarter (+0.1 points) and over the year (-0.1 points), at 2.4%.

The activity rate of people aged 15 to 64 increased very slightly by 0.1 points over the quarter, bringing the year-on-year rise to +0.4 points: it stood at 75.6%, its highest level since INSEE started measuring it (1975). It exceeded by 2.8 points its level at the end of 2019.

Over the quarter, the activity rate for people aged 15 to 24 was stable at 43.6%. It was 0.4 points higher than its level from a year ago. The activity rate for people aged 25 to 49 increased by 0.3 points both over the quarter and over the year, to 89.4%. Finally, for people aged 50 to 64, the activity rate rose very slightly by 0.1 points, to 73.2%, bringing the year-on-year rise to +0.5 points: its highest level since INSEE started measuring it (1975). Amongst seniors, activity rate for people aged 55 to 64 was higher by 1.0 point than its level from a year ago and by 6.6% than its level at the end of 2019: it reached 65.8%, its highest level.Regarding people aged 60 to 64, activity rate rose by 1.6 points over the year, to 47.9% (its highest level since 1975).

In Q1 2026, the share of young people aged 15 to 29 neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) increased by 0.2 points, to 13.1%. This share stood 0.4 points above its level from a year ago and 0.9 points above its level from the end of 2019.

The French “Full Employment Act” (Loi pour le plein emploi), adopted in December 2023, provides for the systematic registration with the national public employment service, France Travail, starting in early 2025, of RSA recipients and their partners, young people supported by local youth missions, and people with disabilities supported by Cap emploi. This mechanically led to a sharp increase in the number of people registered with France Travail in Q1 2025 (Ouvrir dans un nouvel ongletDares, 2025).

Insee published a first overview of the labour market situation — according to the ILO definition — of RSA recipients in the second half of 2024, on the eve of the law's implementation (Insee, 2025). Since then, INSEE has followed every quarter the contribution of the targeted public to the main labour market indicators in its short-term economic publications. More precisely, it details the contributions of RSA recipients (here including all individuals aged 15 or over belonging to a household including at least one RSA recipient) and of young people registered with France Travail.

In Q1 2026, the activity rate for RSA recipients was virtually stable over the quarter (+0.1 points), at 48.2%. Since the implementation of the law, it however increased by 2.4 points. Over five cumulated quarters, thus RSA recipients contributed, given their weight, to +0.14 points to the change in the activity rate of people aged 15 to 64 years over the five quarters (out of +0.93 points in total).

Among the labour force, unemployment rate for RSA recipients reached 46.7%, an increase of 0.7 points over the quarter and bringing the increase from Q4 2024 to +6.2 points. Given their weight among the labour force, they contributed to +0.07 points to the change in unemployment rate this quarter (out of +0.18 points in total) and to +0.23 points to the cumulated evolution over the five quarters (out of +0.80 points in total).

Regarding employment rate for RSA recipients, it decreased by 0.3 points over the quarter and by 1.7 points since the end of 2024, to 25.5 %. Thus over five quarters RSA recipients contributed very slightly and negatively (-0.06 points) to the overall evolution of the employment rate (+0.26 points).

In Q1 2026, the activity rate among young people aged 15 to 29 registered with France Travail increased by 1.1 points over the quarter, bringing the rise over five quarters to +1.4 points. Its contribution to the overall change over five cumulated quarters remained very low (+0.06 points out of +0.93 points in total).

Among the labour force, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 29 registered with France Travail reached 50.2%, an increase by 2.8 points over the quarter: it contributed to 0.11 points to the overall unemployment rate over the quarter (+0.18 points). Over five quarters, it increased by 3.4 points, contributing to +0.13 points to the unemployment overall increase (+0.80 points).

In addition, the employment rate for young people aged 15 to 29 registered with France Travail decreased over the quarter (-1.7 points, to 39.3%), bringing to -2.0 points the decrease over five quarters. Since the end of 2024, its contribution to the overall employment rate is slightly negative (-0.07 points out of +0.26 points in total).

Ultimately, after five quarters of the “Full Employment Act” implementation, the two targeted audiences contributed to almost the half of the rise in the unemployment rate since the end of 2024 (+0.36 points out of +0.80 points in total). However, those contributions should be taken carefully given survey uncertainties and the low share of those population. In addition, those are mathematical contributions: they cannot distinguish bewtween the effects of the law and the cyclical effects on those audiences.

Compared to the first estimate published on 10 February 2026, the activity rate of people aged 15 to 64 of Q4 2025 has been revised upwards by 0.1 points, to 75.5%. The ILO unemployment rate and the employment rate of Q4 2025 remained unchanged.

Regarding other previous estimates, employment and activity rates were slightly more revised than usual, by a maximal amplitude of 0.1 points, due to the annual updates (usually made at this time of the year) to the weights used in the Labour Force Survey, starting in 2022 (calibration on new population margins). These new margins gradually increase the share of middle-aged people in the population onwards, which has mechanically pushed up the employment rate for people aged 15 to 64. In addition, as is the case every quarter, the seasonal adjustment coefficients have been updated.