Informations Rapides · 25 September 2024 · n° 242

In Q2 2024, payroll employment was almost stable or down slightly in all regions Localized employment and unemployment rates (by region and department) - second quarter 2024

Between the end of March 2024 and the end of June 2024, payroll employment in France as a whole (excluding Mayotte) was stable, after an increase of 0.3% in the first quarter of 2024.

Over a quarter, at regional level, payroll employment was almost stable (from ‑0.1% to less than 0.2%) in three quarters of the regions and decreased, by ‑0.4% to less than ‑0,1%, in four regions: Normandie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Centre-Val de Loire and Martinique.

At the departmental level, payroll employment was almost stable or was down in the vast majority of departments, and it increased in a handful of departments, generally isolated within a region. Payroll employment was up especially in Bouches-du-Rhône, Rhône and Haute-Garonne, which are home to three of the four main provincial metropolises. In Île-de-France, payroll employment rose in Seine-Saint-Denis (+0.4%) and in Yvelines and Hauts-de-Seine (+0.2%). Lastly, in Centre-Val de Loire, payroll employment was down in all departments, particularly in Loir-et-Cher (-0.7%). Tarn-et-Garonne is the department where payroll employment fell the most sharply (-1.0%).

Overall, payroll employment was almost stable in the second quarter of 2024 in 40 departments. It decreased by 0.2% in 20 departments, by between 0.3% to 0.4% in 18 departments, and by at least 0.5% in 12 departments. Conversely, it rose in 10 departments.

At the national level, in Q2 2024, total payroll employment was 0.5% higher than in Q2 2023.

Payroll employment was above its level of one year earlier (by at least 0.2%) in the French overseas regions and in seven regions of metropolitan France. Payroll employment was almost stable over one year in the North-East quarter, Corse and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, while it was down by 0.2% in Centre-Val de Loire. In four regions, payroll employment increased slightly (from +0.2% to less than +0.5%). It increased by 0.6% in Occitanie and Pays de la Loire, 0.8% in Île-de-France and 0.9% in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Lastly, it was above its level of a year earlier by at least 1% in La Réunion (+1.0%), Bretagne (+1.2%) and Guyane (+2.0%).

At the end of June 2024, payroll employment was higher than a year earlier in 59 of the 100 departments (excluding Mayotte), and it was below its March 2023 level in 30 departments. It was almost stable (from ‑0.1% to less than 0.2%) in 11 departments.

Among the regions where payroll employment increased over one year faster than the national average, Bretagne, Île-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur stood out for increases in all their departments, with some of them particularly dynamic. In Bretagne, the increase ranged from +0.7% in Côtes-d'Armor to +1.4% in Finistère and Ille-et-Vilaine, which, along with Haute-Garonne, were the metropolitan departments with the strongest employment growth. In Île-de-France, payroll employment was also on the rise in all departments, from Val-de-Marne (+0.4%) to Val d'Oise and Seine Saint-Denis (+1.3%). In Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the increase ranged from +0.2% in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence to +1.3% in Bouches-du-Rhône.

At departmental level, payroll employment fell the most sharply in Haute-Marne (‑1.5%).

In Q2 2024, nationwide (excluding Mayotte), the ILO unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 points compared with the previous quarter, to 7.3% of the labour force. Over one year, it increased by 0.1 points.

Between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024, the unemployment rate was almost stable in seven regions, increased in eight regions and fell in Guadeloupe (‑3.8 points) and La Réunion (‑1.8 points). The rise was 0.2 points in four regions bordering Île-de-France (except for Hauts-de-France) and 0.3 points in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The rise in unemployment was much higher in Guyane (+5.6 points) and Martinique (+3.7 points).

Over one year, the unemployment rate fell in seven departments, it was almost stable in 50 departments, and was up in the others. It rose by 0.2 points in a quarter of departments, by 0.3 points in 14 departments. The unemployment rate rose by at least 0.4 points in five departments, and particularly in Charente, which has seen the sharpest rise in metropolitan France (+0.6 points).

In the second quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate was higher than the national level (7.3%) in three regions in metropolitan France: Hauts-de-France (9.0%), Occitanie (8.7%) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (7.8%). In the French overseas regions, it was notably higher, ranging from 14.3% in Martinique to 19.1% in Guyane. Conversely, the unemployment rate was the lowest in Pays de la Loire (5.8%) and Bretagne (5.9%). In these two regions, unemployment rates were lower than the national average in all departments. By contrast, in Île-de-France, where the unemployment rate was lower than the national level (7.1%), it was lower than the latter in Paris (5.7%) and Hauts-de-Seine (6.0%) but higher in Seine-Saint-Denis (10.2%). The situation was also very mixed in Occitanie: the region includes Lozère, the department with the second lowest unemployment rate in France (4.8%) and Pyrénées-Orientales, where the rate is the highest in metropolitan France (12.0%).