The number of job seekers is almost stable in the second quarter

The figures should be taken with a grain of salt. According to data provided by France Travail and the Directorate for Research, Studies and Statistics (Dares) published on July 29, the number of people registered with France Travail fell by 5.7% between the second and first quarters of 2025, reaching 3.2 million job seekers without activity (they were 3.4 million in the previous quarter). "But these data are impacted by mechanical effects," said Pierre Leblanc, Deputy Director of Employment and Labor Market at Dares, during the presentation of the data to the press. In reality, once recalculated taking into account the new updating and sanction rules, the number of people registered with France Travail remains virtually stable, increasing by 0.2% in France (excluding Mayotte) in the second quarter. This is a moderate increase in the number of registered people and slightly lower than the +0.8% increase in the previous quarter .

The effects that erode the statistics are thus caused by the implementation of the law for full employment, the new sanction regime applicable with the decree of May 30, 2025 and the new updating rules . "In the first quarter, the evolution of the updating rules increased the number of registered people, in particular those without activity required to look for work, so in this last quarter the impact has been reversed, the figures are decreasing," analyzes Pierre Leblanc. Between January and March, people registering with France Travail, and who were not otherwise eligible for an allowance paid by the former Pôle emploi, saw their status automatically updated each month until the signing of their employment contract with the organization responsible for their support (Mission locale, Cap emploi, etc.). " These people were then registered in category A (that of job seekers without activity) until the signing of this contract," specifies the statistical report from Dares and France Travail.

As for the sanction regime , the new "suspension remobilization" system also has consequences for these second-quarter data. The decree relating to sanctions applicable to those registered with France Travail in the event of failure to meet their obligations came into force in June 2025. "Without the implementation of the decree, it is estimated that the average number of category A registrants would have been around 5,000 lower" over this period, says the statistical report.

Furthermore, Dares recalls that it has adapted to the effects produced by the law for full employment because now "applicants and beneficiaries of the RSA, young people looking for work followed by local missions, people with disabilities followed by Cap emploi are systematically registered with France Travail" . Thus, two new statistical categories (F for people furthest from employment and G for applicants and beneficiaries of the RSA) have, underlines Pierre Leblanc, been created " to understand the complexity of these developments" .