Unemployment continued to fall in July: -4%) in category A, (-0.7), all categories combined. This is the third consecutive month of decline, but that does not erase, far from it, the increases of March and April. But should we be delighted with this apparent start of economic activity?
First important element: we see that the activity has indeed picked up a little. Those who used to have a few missions or a few hours of work per month and who are still looking for a more lasting job alongside have found these few missions. In addition, it is the first drop in unemployment since March all categories combined. And another encouraging sign: the outputs of the Pôle Emploi files for declared resumption of employment have returned to their pre-crisis level, for the second consecutive month.
Unemployment figures still very high compared to February
But beware, we are very far from having returned to pre-crisis levels. The number of unemployed remains at a high level, 4.047 million, after the exceptional increases due to confinement (+ 7% in March, + 22% in April), or 560,000 more unemployed than at the end of February.
And most importantly, these numbers look like the calm before the storm. The announced social plans are not yet counted in the figures. And that is the great fear of the government for this return. This is why the long-term partial activity, which allows an employee's working time to be reduced for two years, was created. The goal: to limit job cuts as much as possible