Informations Rapides · 9 January 2025 · n° 3

In Q3 2024, payroll employment was almost stable or up slightly in all regions Localized employment and unemployment rates (by region and department) - third quarter 2024

Between the end of June 2024 and the end of September 2024, payroll employment in France as a whole (excluding Mayotte) rose by 0.2% after ‑0.1% in the previous quarter.

Over a quarter, at regional level, payroll employment was almost stable (between ‑0.1% and +0.1% included) in two thirds of the regions, and increased between 0.2% and 0.4% in six regions: Centre-Val de Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Corse, Île-de-France and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

At the departmental level, payroll employment decreased slightly over the quarter in fourteen departments. It was almost stable (between ‑0.1% and +0.1% included) in 33 departments. Payroll employment rose between 0.2% and 0.4% in 44 departments, and by at least 0.5% in 9 departments. Payroll employment especially increased in the Marne (+1.1%), Ardèche (+1.0%) and Tarn-et-Garonne (0.9%).

At the national level, in Q3 2024, total payroll employment was 0.5% higher than in Q3 2023, compared with +0.9% between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023.

Payroll employment was above its level of one year earlier (by at least 0.2%) in all regions, except Grand Est, Centre-Val de Loire and Martinique, where payroll employment was almost stable over one year. In six regions, payroll employment increased slightly (between 0.2% and 0.4% included). It increased by 0.5% in La Réunion and Pays de la Loire, by 0.7% in Guadeloupe, Occitanie and Île-de-France, by 0.8% in Bretagne and by 0.9% in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. It was above its level of one year earlier by 2.0% in Guyane.

At the end of September 2024, payroll employment was higher than a year earlier in 62 of the 100 departments (excluding Mayotte), and it was below its September 2023 level in 22 departments. It was almost stable (between ‑0.1% and +0.1% included) in 16 departments.

Among the regions where payroll employment increased over one year faster than the national average (+0.5%), 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 +0.6% in Côtes-d'Armor to +0.9% in Finistère and Ille-et-Vilaine. In Île-de-France, payroll employment was also on the rise in all departments, with marked increases in Seine-Saint-Denis (+1.3%) and Val d’Oise (+1.4%), which was the second metropolitan department with the highest increase in employment, behind the Marne (+1.8%). In Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the increase ranged from +0.3% in Vaucluse to +1.2% in Bouches-du-Rhône.

At departmental level, payroll employment fell the most sharply in Charente (‑1.1%).

In Q3 2024, nationwide (excluding Mayotte), the ILO unemployment rate increased by 0.1 points compared with the previous quarter, to 7.4% of the labour force. Over one year, it was back to its precedent level.

Between Q3 2023 and Q3 2024, the unemployment rate was almost stable (between ‑0.1 points and +0.1 points included) in eight regions, it increased in seven regions and fell in La Réunion (‑2.7 points) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (‑0.2 points). The rise was between 0.2 points and 0.4 points in five regions, and was much higher in Guyane (+5.6 points) and Guadeloupe (+1.3 points).

Over one year, the unemployment rate fell in 12 departments, it was almost stable in 59 departments, and was up in 29 departments. It rose by between 0.2 points and 0.4 points in a quarter of departments, and by 0.6 points in Charente, which has seen the sharpest rise in metropolitan France, as in the previous quarter.

In the third quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate was higher than or equal to the national level (7.4%) in four regions in metropolitan France: Hauts-de-France (9.1%), Occitanie (8.9%), Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (7.9%) and Grand Est (7.4%). In the French overseas regions, it was notably higher, ranging from 10.3% in Martinique to 18.7% in Guyane. Conversely, the unemployment rate was the lowest in Pays de la Loire and Bretagne (6.0%). In these two regions, unemployment rates were lower than the national average in all departments, with the exception of Sarthe, where it was identical to the national average. In Île-de-France, where the unemployment rate was lower than the national level (7.0%), it was lower in Paris (5.7%) and Hauts-de-Seine (6.0%) but higher in Seine-Saint-Denis (10.3%). 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 (12.4%).