FX.co ★ France Unemployment Edges Up as Anticipated

In the first quarter of 2025, France's unemployment rate increased slightly to 7.4% from the previous period's 7.3%, aligning with market forecasts. The number of unemployed individuals grew by 64,000 from the previous month, totaling 2.4 million. When broken down by age, the unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 24 experienced a negligible increase of 0.1 percentage points to 19.2%, maintaining a 1.1 percentage point rise from the previous year. For the 25 to 49 age bracket, the rate remained stable at 6.7%, marking a 0.1 point rise over the quarter and a 0.1 point decline year-over-year. Those aged 50 and above saw no change in their unemployment rate, which held at 4.7%, 0.3 points lower than the same quarter in the previous year. Analyzing the data by gender, the unemployment rate for women rose by 0.3 points to 7.4%, equating to the men's rate, which showed little change with a decrease of 0.1 point. In addition, the labor force participation rate increased to 75.1%, up from 74.6% in the prior quarter.