Informations Rapides · 19 June 2026 · n° 145

In Q1 2026, payroll employment was stable or virtually stable in almost all regions Localized employment and unemployment rates (by region and department) - first quarter 2026

Between the end of December 2025 and the end of March 2026, payroll employment in France as a whole (excluding Mayotte) was stable (0.0%) after being virtually stable in the fourth quarter of 2025 (-0,1%).

In Q1 2026, payroll employment was stable or virtually stable in fifteen regions compared with Q4 2025. It fell by 0.2% in the Grand Est region. It rose by 0.3% in Guyane.

At the departmental level, payroll employment was virtually stable in 56 departments compared with the fourth quarter of 2025. It fell by more than 0.3% in nine departments, with the largest decline of 0.7% in Creuse. On the other hand, payroll employment increased by at least 0.2% in fifteen departments. The largest increase was in Hautes-Pyrénées (+0.5%).

At the national level, in Q1 2026, total payroll employment declined compared to the Q1 2025 (-0.2%), whereas it had been virtually stable between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025 (-0.1%).

At the end of March 2026, payroll employment was at least 0.2% lower than a year earlier in ten regions. The sharpest declines were seen in three metropolitan regions: Nouvelle-Aquitaine (-0.6%), Grand Est (-0.6%) and Guadeloupe (-0.6%). Payroll employment increased the most year on year in two overseas regions: La Réunion (+0.4%) and Guyane (+1.4%).

Payroll employment fell in 59 departments. It declined by more than 0.7% in seventeen departments, all in metropolitan France. Payroll employment fell most sharply in Orne (-1.3%), Charente (-1.5%) and Creuse (-1.7%).

Conversely, salaried employment rose by at least 0.2%, and by up to 1.4%, in 19 departments of metropolitan France, mainly in Île-de-France, in the South and in the two overseas departments mentioned above.

In the first quarter of 2026, across the whole country (excluding Mayotte), the ILO unemployment rate rose over the year (+0.7 points). It stood at 8.1% of the labor force.

Between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, the unemployment rate rose in all regions of metropolitan France and in three overseas regions. Unemployment rate increased over a year by at least 0.7 points in four regions: Île-de-France (+0.7 points), Hauts-de-France (+0.8 points), La Réunion (+2.6 points) and Guyane (+2.7 points). Over the past year, the unemployment rate fell in Guadeloupe (-0.2 points).

In the first quarter of 2026, the unemployment rate was still highest in the French overseas regions, ranging from 13.5% in Martinique to 19.3% in Guyane. In metropolitan France, three regions recorded an unemployment rate higher than the national average (8,1%): Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (8.5%), Occitanie (9.5%) and Hauts-de-France (9.8%). Conversely, the unemployment rate was lowest in Bretagne (6.6%) and in the Pays de la Loire (6.6%). In these two regions, the unemployment rates in all departments were below the national average. The situation within other regions could be much more varied. For example, in Île-de-France, where the unemployment rate for the region as a whole (7.9%) was lower than the national average: it was lower in Paris (6.3%) and in Hauts-de-Seine (7,1%), and conversely higher in Seine-Saint-Denis (11.1%). The contrast was even more pronounced in Occitanie, between Lozère, the department with the second-lowest unemployment rate (4.9%), and the Pyrénées-Orientales, where it was the highest in metropolitan France (12.7%).