France Sees Significant Rise in Unemployment in 2025 as Job Seekers Increase by Nearly 7%

France experienced a notable increase in unemployment throughout 2025, with official data from France Travail and Dares revealing a 6.8% rise in the number of job seekers registered without any activity (category A). This corresponds to an additional 212,700 individuals compared to the previous year, totaling approximately 3.3 million job seekers in this category by the end of the year.

The fourth quarter of 2025 alone saw an increase of 2.6% in category A registrations, equating to 84,200 more job seekers in just three months. When including categories B and C, which represent those seeking work but with some employment activity, the total registered at France Travail reached nearly 5.7 million—a 4.8% increase over the year and a 1% rise in the last quarter.

Adjustments for legislative changes are critical for analysis: the "full employment" law mandated all recipients of the active solidarity income (RSA) to register with France Travail from January 1, 2025, artificially inflating numbers. After correcting for this, the annual rise in category A registrations is 1.7%, or 40,000 additional individuals.

Economic and political turbulence during late 2025—including budgetary impasses and geopolitical tensions—have contributed to this labor market deterioration. A new sanctions regime introduced in June 2025 also altered registration dynamics, significantly reducing deregistrations—from an average of 45,000 in early 2025 to just 2,300 in the year's final quarter.

The unemployment rate ended 2025 at 7.6%, still above the government's 5% full employment target for 2027, reversing prior declines since 2015. The national statistics institute Insee forecasts a gradual increase to 7.8% by mid-2026 amid an expanding active population coupled with sluggish job creation.

According to Dares, these evolving figures reflect the current economic environment: "These developments best illustrate the conjunctural conditions of the labor market." Despite reform efforts, France is confronting renewed challenges in employment, highlighting complexities in achieving labor market stability in a volatile context.