France's unemployment rate eases to 8.2% in Q3 but is up 0.4 points on a year

A marginal dip in the headline rate

France's unemployment rate stood at 8.2% of the active population in the third quarter of 2026, according to figures from Insee published on Tuesday, 10 November. That is a fall of 0.1 point on the previous three months, but compared with the third quarter of 2025 the rate is 0.4 points higher. On the International Labour Organization definition used by the statistics institute, 2.6 million people were without work and actively looking for a job between July and September, 47,000 fewer than in the previous quarter.

The movement was small. BFMTV reported that the consensus forecast had pointed to 8.4%, which puts the published figure below expectations. Le Monde placed the numbers against a harder backdrop, saying that GDP shrank over the previous quarter, that budget discussions have stalled and that purchasing power remains under strain as inflation stays strong.

Age and sex gaps

The slight easing was uneven across age groups. People aged 50 and over saw unemployment rise by 0.1 point to 5.6%, the highest level since the first quarter of 2022. Young people remain the most exposed: the rate for those aged 15 to 24 is 21%, although it fell 0.5 point over the quarter. Among 25 to 49 year olds, the rate dropped 0.2 point to 7.3%.

Aged 15-2421%

Aged 25-497.3%

Aged 50 and over5.6%

Aged 15-24

21 %

Aged 25-49

7.3 %

Aged 50 and over

5.6 %

Data from the article text

Gender patterns moved in opposite directions. Women's unemployment fell 0.3 point to 7.8%, while men's edged up to 8.6%, which leaves men with the higher rate of the two.

Women7.8%

Men8.6%

Women

7.8 %

Men

8.6 %

Data from the article text

Government reaction and Insee's caveat

Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou welcomed the figures and said the French labour market was doing better than merely holding up, despite international and trade tensions. He added that companies were still recruiting.

Insee also examined the period since January 2025, when the full-employment law was being put into practice. Recipients of the RSA minimum income and young people aged 15 to 29 registered with France Travail account for a little under half of the increase in the unemployment rate since then.

Set against that record, the quarter's improvement is modest. The headline rate is still higher than a year ago, and the group aged 50 and over is at its highest level since early 2022.