France Q3 Unemployment Rate at 9%... Up 1.9%p from Previous Quarter

by Kwon Jaehee

Published 10 Nov.2020 20:19(KST)

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] France's unemployment rate has risen again due to the resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

On the 10th (local time), the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) announced that the unemployment rate in the third quarter of this year rose by 1.9 percentage points from the previous quarter to 9.0%.

The number of unemployed people across France, excluding the overseas territory of Mayotte, reached 2.7 million, an increase of 628,000 from the previous quarter.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak, the unemployment rate in the third quarter of this year is 0.9 percentage points higher.

According to the French National Institute of Statistics, this is the first time since measurements began in 1975 that the unemployment rate has risen this much in just one quarter.

However, the institute explained that the decline in the unemployment rate observed in the first and second quarters of this year was an optical illusion caused by the lockdown imposed from March to May.

The lockdown physically prevented job-seeking activities even for those who wanted to work, meaning that actual unemployed individuals were not counted as unemployed in the statistics.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines unemployed persons as those who did not work in the past week, are available to work if given a job, and have actively sought employment in the past four weeks.

The institute explained, "The third quarter indicates a return to normal behavior patterns, and as a result, the unemployment rate sharply increased."