If the unemployment rate fell in the fourth quarter of 2020, INSEE warns that this drop is "partly a trompe l'oeil".
Due to the implementation of the second confinement between October 30 and December 15, many French people have indeed given up looking for a job.
The unemployment rate fell sharply, to 8% in the fourth quarter of 2020 against 9.1% in the third, returning to its pre-crisis level (8.1%), but this fall is "partly misleading the eye "according to INSEE due to the fact that a certain number of people gave up looking for a job because of the second confinement.
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To be unemployed within the meaning of the International Labor Office (ILO), it is indeed necessary to have carried out a job search process during the last four weeks and to declare oneself available within two weeks to take up a job.
"These two behaviors, availability and research, were more or less affected by the restrictions on the movement of people and by the perception that the latter had of the possibilities offered on the labor market during this period of health crisis", explains INSEE. .
The increase in the employment rate "to be put into perspective"
Admittedly, the fall in unemployment over the quarter stems first of all from the rise in the employment rate, which continued to recover over the quarter (+0.6 point) even "if it is to be put into perspective by the fall in hours worked per job ".
"But, as in the second quarter, the fall in unemployment is also partly 'trompe-l'oeil': due to the second confinement, between October 30 and December 15, a significant number of people have switched to inactivity, notably for lack of being able to carry out active job searches under the usual conditions, ”adds the institute.
All age categories concerned
The participation rate fell by 0.2 point over the quarter, and by 0.4 point over one year.
Among 15-24 year olds, it fell by 0.9 points over the quarter, a sign that a certain number of them preferred to pursue studies or gave up looking for work.
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This effect of confinement is however smaller than in the second quarter, when the unemployment rate fell to 7.1%.
The fall in the unemployment rate over the quarter concerns all age categories.
It is more pronounced for 15-24 year olds (‒3.6 points) than for 25-49 year olds (‒1.0 point) and those aged 50 or over (‒0.4 point).
The unemployment rate is thus lower than its level a year earlier for young people (‒1.5 points) and almost at the same level as a year before for their elders (+0.1 point for 25-49 year olds; ‒0.1 point for 50 years and over).