In the fourth quarter of 2022, INSEE counted 2.2 million unemployed people in France (excluding Mayotte) as defined by the International Labour Office, while DARES counted 3.1 million jobseekers registered with Pôle emploi in category A.

The gap between these two reference measures was small in 2009, but has grown over 10 years, reaching 1.1 million at the end of 2019. This divergence in measurements can be compared with changes in the way jobseekers are monitored and supported, and can also be explained by reforms that may have had a different impact on the number of people registered with Pôle emploi and the number of unemployed as defined by the ILO.

During the health crisis, the two indicators showed very different trends: the first lockdown due to the Covid crisis in 2020 had a downward effect on the number of unemployed in the second quarter, while the number of people registered with the Pôle emploi jumped. Much of this divergence could be seen in the 'halo around unemployment', which rose sharply in the second quarter. Since then, the gap between the number of jobseekers registered with Pôle emploi in category A and the number of unemployed people as defined by the ILO has narrowed considerably, with a return to the pre-crisis Pôle emploi management rules (resumption of deregistrations suspended during the period of lockdown, resumption of job search checks, etc.), the entry into force of new unemployment insurance rules at the end of 2021, which may have changed the way people register with Pôle emploi regardless of the situation on the labour market, and the roll-out by Pôle emploi of a new form in 2022, which has improved the updating procedure.