After a half-year increase in the second part of 2023, the number of job seekers without any activity (category A) was almost stable in the first quarter of 2024 in France (excluding Mayotte). According to figures published Thursday April 25 by the statistics department of the Ministry of Labor (Dares), the rate is down slightly by 0.1%, bringing the number of people registered to 3.028 million (– 4,300 registered, compared to the last trimestre).
Including reduced activity (categories B and C), the number of job seekers is also stable in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter (+2,600 registered), and stands at 5.4 million. This stability in unemployment comes after two quarters of consecutive increases, with a 0.6% increase in the summer of 2023 and + 0.2% in the fall. Over one year, the number of unemployed without activity increased by 0.1% in the first quarter and the total number of job seekers, including reduced activity, by 0.6%.
In mainland France, unemployment among young people under 25 continued to increase, although less quickly than in the fourth quarter of 2023. It increased by 0.5% over the quarter and 5.3% over one year. On the other hand, that of those aged 50 and over fell by 0.5% over the quarter, and by 1.8% over one year.
New unemployment insurance reform to come
The figures for the end of 2023, which brought the unemployment rate to 7.5%, undermined the objective stated by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, of achieving full employment by 2027 – around 5%. For “further encourage the resumption of employment”, the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, announced a further tightening of unemployment insurance rules and an increase in checks on unemployed people. The tenant of Matignon wishes in particular to tighten the affiliation period, that is to say the working time necessary to qualify for an allowance.
Today, it is necessary to have worked six months out of the last twenty-four to gain rights. “What matters to me is less about changing the rules for someone who has worked all their life and who finds themselves with redundancy (…) only situations where we see that there is a system which is organized for the multiplication of small, short contracts between which we benefit from unemployment”he declared, recognizing that this “orients” the changes to come “towards the affiliation conditions”. To set these new rules, the government announced on Monday that it will set by decree in the coming weeks new compensation rules for job seekers, applicable « from 1er next July ».