French unemployment held steady at 7.5% in the first quarter of the year, highlighting the challenge President Emmanuel Macron faces to show his unpopular labor-market reforms are still getting results.
The country’s jobless rate has been creeping up in the last twelve months, after touching around a four-decade low of 7.1% in early 2023.
The report from statistics agency Insee on Friday adds to setbacks for Macron, who has made tackling French unemployment a yardstick for measuring the success of his presidency. A significant improvement will now be required if he is to meet a self-set objective of full-employment by the end of his second term in office in 2027.
Before then, Macron also faces a political reckoning at the European Parliament elections, which polls show nationalist Marine Le Pen’s party is set to win by a large margin. She has been a vocal critique of his labor reforms, which she says penalize workers.
Still, Macron’s government plans to announce the details of more politically risky overhauls in the coming days. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has said changes to unemployment insurance could include cutting the maximum duration of welfare to 12 months from 18, lengthening the period of work required to qualify for benefits, and reducing payments over time.
Insee’s report showed a rise in unemployment in the first quarter among 15-to-25-year-olds, who benefited from state-financed apprenticeships and job-support programs during Covid. That rise was offset by a slight fall in the jobless rate among under-50s.
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