Unemployment: job seekers fall in Q4, -9.4% y/y

The fall continues and accelerates. The number of job seekers registered in category A (i.e. no activity) fell 3.8% this quarter, with 112,100 fewer unemployed people, according to data from the Department of Labor this Wednesday, bringing the number of unemployed reached 2.834 million.

Taking into account the decrease in activity (categories B and C), the number of job seekers in France (excluding Mayotte) fell by only 0.8% (-39,600) to 5,394,200 in the fourth quarter, according to the statistical office of the ministry.

For the year, the fall in category A is 9.4%. For categories A, B and C, it is 5.1%.

For categories B, C and D

The number of people engaged in short-term reduced activity (category B) increased by 5.2% compared to the previous quarter, and over the same period, the number of people engaged in long-term reduced activity (category C) increased by 2.3%. In general, the number of job seekers in categories A, B, C for this quarter decreased by 0.8% (39.6 thousand) and by 5.2% for the year.

In the fourth quarter, 706,900 people registered with Pôle Emploi were not required to look for work. They are either currently unavailable and unemployed (category D, eg: training, guarantee contract, sickness) or have a job (category E, eg: starting a business, subsidized contract). During this quarter, the number of category D registrants decreased by 5.2%, while the number of category E registrants decreased by 1.2%.

The update procedure was changed in 2022

In January 2022, the procedure for updating applicants at the end of the month for young people under the age of 26 has been improved. This change was extended to young people under the age of 30 in February 2022. This change has a permanent downward impact on the number of job seekers in category A and a constant increase in categories B and C, associated with better reports of reduced hours of work and a small spike in the number of exits from the list, as the region moved to the updated update.

Overall, the transition to the new form of renewal will result in a cumulative reduction of 105,000 applicants in category A between January and November 2022, an increase in the number of applicants in categories B and C by 90,000 and exit by 15,000.