French unemployment climbs to 8.3% in Q2 2026, highest since autumn 2020

Rate reaches 8.3%

France's unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points in the second quarter of 2026 to 8.3%, the highest level since autumn 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the highest outside that period since autumn 2019, according to figures released by the national statistics office Insee on 7 August. Under the International Labour Organization definition, the number of people without a job who are actively seeking work increased by 62,000 compared with the previous quarter, reaching 2.7 million. The rate is up 0.7 points year-on-year from the second quarter of 2025. Insee noted that the rate remains 2.2 points below its mid-2015 peak. The employment rate for people aged 15 to 64 fell by 0.3 points over the quarter. The curve has not bent since the start of 2025, with each quarter bringing worse figures.

All age groups affected

The unemployment rate increased across every age bracket in the second quarter. For those aged 15 to 24, the rate rose by 0.4 points to 21.6%. For the 25-49 group, it climbed 0.2 points to 7.5%, the highest since the first quarter of 2021. Among people aged 50 and over, the rate gained 0.3 points to 5.5%, its highest since the first quarter of 2022. The rate has now risen every quarter since the beginning of 2025, with no sign of the curve flattening, as Insee reported increases across all age groups for the latest period.

Full Employment Law and statistical scope

Since the implementation of France's Full Employment Law in January 2025, which automatically registers recipients of the active solidarity income (RSA) welfare benefit and young people aged 15 to 29 on jobseeker lists, these two groups have accounted for nearly half of the increase in the unemployment rate. Even without accounting for this reform, Insee noted, the upward trend persists. The data now includes the French department of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, with all statistical series recalculated to allow comparisons across all periods. Insee said the inclusion of Mayotte revises the unemployment rate upwards by 0.06 points and the employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 downwards by 0.17 points, while quarterly changes in the unemployment rate and employment rate remain identical after rounding.

Halo and NEET figures

Beyond the 2.7 million counted as unemployed under the ILO definition, 1.9 million people who wish to work are not classified as unemployed because they are not actively seeking work or are not immediately available. Insee described this as the "halo around unemployment," and said the number was quasi-stable over the quarter. Separately, the share of 15-to-29-year-olds who are neither in employment, education, nor training, known by the acronym NEET, stood at 13.3%. The term, which originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s, covers young people increasingly numerous in France, following the same upward trajectory as the overall unemployment rate.

Macron's 5% target recedes

President Emmanuel Macron's goal of bringing the unemployment rate down to 5% by the end of his second mandate in 2027 appears increasingly out of reach. The rate has climbed 0.7 points over the past year alone. Even without accounting for the Full Employment Law's automatic registration of RSA recipients and young people on jobseeker lists, the 5% target seems to be receding once again, according to Insee's figures. The French government has separately announced plans to restrict access to unemployment benefits.