Paris (AFP)

The unemployment rate fell significantly in 2019, by 0.7 points, to reach 8.1% at the end of the year, which makes the target of a rate of 7% at the end of quinquennium "frankly attainable" according to the Minister of Labor Muriel Pénicaud.

After a pause in the third quarter, the unemployment rate, measured according to the standards of the International Labor Office (ILO), resumed its downward trend in the fourth with a decrease of 0.4 points to reach its lowest level since the end of 2008 when it was then 7.7%, according to INSEE.

"We were expecting a drop of 0.2 points over the quarter. We are a little surprised at the scale but it is a continuation of the movement observed since 2016", commented Sylvain Larrieu, head of the synthesis and labor market conditions at INSEE.

At the end of 2019, France (excluding Mayotte) had 2,424 million unemployed, 85,000 less over the quarter and 183,000 over a year. In mainland France, the rate has dropped to 7.9% of the working population.

For Muriel Pénicaud, Emmanuel Macron's ambition of a rate of 7% in 2022 is now "frankly achievable".

"We see a dynamic everywhere on the territory with 24 departments already under 7%", rejoiced the Minister of Labor. "We have never hired so many permanent contracts, never so many apprentices and job seekers," she praised.

The employment rate, that is to say the proportion of 15-64 year-olds who work, increased by 0.4 point over one year to 65.9%, a higher since INSEE measures this indicator .

This is the consequence of the strong job creations recorded in 2019 (+210,000 in the private sector) despite modest economic growth.

- High youth unemployment -

The fall in unemployment is also due to a smaller increase in the working population. The participation rate, ie the share of 15-64 year olds who work or are unemployed, is almost stable over one year at 71.8%.

"For years, the rise in the participation rate was driven by the increase in the employment of women and seniors, but these engines seem less strong today. The effects of the last pension reform on the employment of seniors mainly took place between 2010 and 2015 and are fading ", explains Mr. Larrieu.

Among other positive trends, the slight fall in long-term unemployment (over a year) by 0.4 points over one year, even if this still represents 965,000 unemployed.

The share of underemployment, that is to say people who want to work more, such as part-time employees, has also fallen by 0.5 point over one year.

If the unemployment rate decreases among 25-49 year olds and those over 50, it goes up again on the other hand among 15-24 year olds (+ 0.7 point) where it reaches 20%.

The drop recorded by INSEE in any case confirms the decline in the number of unemployed job seekers registered with Pôle Emploi, which decreased from 120,700 in 2019 to 3.5 million.

The two indicators point in the same direction even if they do not measure the same thing: while Pôle emploi lists the people registered in its files, INSEE surveys each quarter 110,000 people over 15 years of age.

Are considered unemployed within the meaning of the ILO those who meet three criteria: not having had any paid activity during a reference week, being available to hold a job within 15 days and having actively looked for a job within the month previous one (or having found one starting in less than three months).

In addition, INSEE has 1.7 million people in the "halo around unemployment", that is to say that they want a job but are not considered unemployed because they are not available immediately .

© 2020 AFP