France unemployment rises to 8.1%, highest since pandemic in 2026

France’s labor market has lost momentum just as Emmanuel Macron’s economic record is coming under sharper political scrutiny. The unemployment rate climbed to 8.1% in the first quarter of 2026, up 0.2 point from the previous quarter and 0.7 point from a year earlier, as the number of unemployed people rose by 68,000 to 2.6 million, excluding Mayotte.

The increase is the highest since 2021, when the pandemic still distorted hiring and layoffs, and it lands at an awkward moment for a president who made labor-market repair a central part of his first campaign in 2017. Macron promised to push France toward near-full employment, around 5%, and his early mix of business tax cuts, labor reforms and a major apprenticeship drive helped drive unemployment to a 40-year low in early 2023. But the latest data show how fragile that progress has become.

The setback is especially damaging because Macron is nearing the end of his second term and cannot seek reelection in 2027. That makes every labor-market reversal part of the verdict on his broader economic legacy. France’s unemployment rate averaged 7.3% in 2023 after seven straight years of decline, and it had fallen from 9.5% when Macron took office to roughly 7.3% by 2024. The new rise suggests that the descent toward the levels Macron promised has stalled well above his target.

The pressure is falling hardest on younger French workers. INSEE said the share of young people neither in employment nor in education or training rose again in the quarter, even as the activity rate for people aged 15 to 64 reached a new peak. That combination points to a labor market where more people are engaged overall, but a larger share of young adults are still being left behind.

The broader economy is also working against hiring. Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou has linked the deterioration to the war in Iran, while higher oil prices, weaker tourism tied to Gulf tensions and a tariff dispute with the United States are weighing on growth and exports. Business leaders say the 2024 snap election, which produced a hung parliament and repeated cabinet collapses, has added another layer of uncertainty for companies deciding whether to invest and hire.

François Villeroy de Galhau, the Bank of France governor, said the labor market remains more resilient than in past downturns, even if the latest figures are disappointing. He noted that unemployment was above 10% after the early-2010s slowdown and still remains below the 10.5% peak reached in 2015 under François Hollande. But resilience is not the same as recovery, and the latest rise leaves Macron defending a reform story that is under growing strain.