The INSEE has just published the figures concerning the unemployment rate of the French for the last three months of 2020. Good news, the health crisis has not greatly impacted these figures as the rate remains very similar to the end of 2019.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, the number of unemployed persons according to the ILO definition reached 2.4 million people in France (excluding Mayotte), a decrease of 340,000 people. Over the quarter, the unemployment rate according to the ILO fell by 1.1 points to 8.0% of the active population, after a rebound of 2.0 points the previous quarter. It is almost stable (‒0.1 points) compared to its pre-health crisis level in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The decline in unemployment over the quarter is primarily due to the increase in the employment rate, which continued to recover on average over the quarter. However, as in the second quarter, the decrease in unemployment is also partly “misleading”: due to the second lockdown, between October 30 and December 15, a significant number of people shifted to inactivity (halo around unemployment or inactivity outside the halo), mainly because they could not actively seek employment under the usual conditions.
Additionally, the rise in employment should be put into perspective with the decrease in hours worked per job.
