According to official data released Wednesday, the French unemployment rate stood at 7.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022 and remained unchanged in the first three months of the current year, making it the lowest since 1982.
French unemployment rate
The global COVID-19 pandemic had no effect on the current unemployment rate. As the country faces rising living costs and eroding purchasing power, the data could provide some relief to President Emmanuel Macron, who is facing nationwide protests over raising the retirement age from 62 to 68.
The contentious bill he passed without a vote sparked angry protests in Paris and other cities, as well as months of turmoil in the legislature.
The decision to invoke a special constitutional provision that allows the government to pass legislation without a vote amounted to an admission that the government lacked the necessary majority to raise the retirement age.
According to the INSEE statistics office, french youth unemployment decreased by 0.2 percentage points in the first quarter to 16.6%, which is more than 5 percentage points lower than pre-COVID-19 levels.
Meanwhile, long-term unemployment stood at 1.8% of the active workforce, its lowest level since early 2009 — excluding the second quarter of 2020, when inflation data was skewed due to a COVID lockdown that prevented people from registering as looking for work.
When Emmanuel Macron took office in 2017, the country’s unemployment rate was 9.5%, and he made lowering it below 7% a central goal of reforms to loosen labor market rules and boost vocational training.
President Macron recently met with tech billionaire and CEO Tesla Elon Musk in Paris on Monday to discuss future ventures as he hosted a conference to persuade business executives to invest their money in his country.
The pair met at the Elysee Palace before departing for Versailles for the latest edition of the president’s Choose France conference, where Macron seeks to persuade business leaders to invest in France.
The 45-year-old President tweeted, “We talked about the attractiveness of France and the significant progress in the electric vehicle and energy sectors.” “We have so much to do together,” he added.
With @ElonMusk, we talked about the attractiveness of France and the significant progress in the electric vehicle and energy sectors. We also talked about digital regulation. We have so much to do together. See you this afternoon at the #ChooseFrance Summit! pic.twitter.com/wkdwjv45OG
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 15, 2023
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