#EMPLOYMENT & SOCIETY
"France's labour market is holding up." Yet in Q2 2026 the unemployment rate rose for a fourth straight quarter, to its highest level since the pandemic.
Published on September 26, 2026 · to be rechecked on November 20, 2026
In the second quarter of 2026, the number of people unemployed under the International Labour Organization definition rose by 62,000 over three months, to 2.7 million. The unemployment rate reached 8.3% of the labour force, up 0.2 point on the quarter and 0.7 point over one year (+261,000 unemployed). That is the highest level since the third quarter of 2020, during the pandemic, and before that since late 2019. The rise touches every age group and both sexes: women rose to 8.2% (+0.4 point on the quarter), men held steady at 8.5%.
Is France's labour market doing fine?
Unemployment has been climbing for a year: 8.3% in Q2 2026, a level unseen since 2020.
In other words: a rise quarter after quarter is not a one-off blip, it is a trend.
Four caveats that belong with the number
- 8.3% is still well below the mid-2015 peak (10.5%, i.e. -2.2 points): the recent rise does not erase fifteen years of underlying decline.
- The "halo" around unemployment — 1.9 million people who would like to work but aren't counted as unemployed — stayed stable on the quarter: the rise isn't an inflow from inactivity.
- Underemployment (people in work but under-occupied) is also stable, at 4.4%: it's not the quality of existing jobs that is deteriorating, but their number.
- This release is the first to cover "France" as a whole (instead of "France excluding Mayotte"): part of the rise may reflect this change in scope, which INSEE does not separately quantify.
Why it still matters: talk of a "resilient" labour market now has to reckon with four straight quarters of rising unemployment.
For you
- Did you think French unemployment was stable or falling in recent months?
- Does a gradual rise over four quarters change your read on the economy?
Source: INSEE, Labour Force Survey, Informations rapides No. 192, 7 August 2026.
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