EURES France

As of 1 January 2024, about 68.4 million people lived in France. The gross domestic product per inhabitant was EUR 38 500 in 2022, 8.8% higher than the average of EUR 35 400 per inhabitant in the EU27. Between 2018 and 2022, the GDP per capita increased by 10%.

In 2023, more than 30.9 million people were active on the labour market in France. The employment rate was 68.4%, 2 percentage points lower than the EU27 average and 3.2 percentage points higher compared to 2018. In 2023, for women, the employment rate was 66%, for men, the employment rate was 71%, and for youth, the employment rate was 35.2%, with only women having a rate higher than the EU average and with only men having a rate lower than the EU average.

the unemployment rate was equal to the level registered in 2022. In 2023, the unemployment rate has not yet returned to the level before the pandemic, when it equaled 9.1% in 2018, and 8.5% in 2019. The unemployment rate is consistently above the EU27 average. In 2023, it was 1.3 percentage points higher in France than in the EU27.

86.6% of the active workforce were from France, 2.5% from other EU Member States and 9.9 from third countries. In the EU27, as of 2023, the highest proportion of the workforce comes from the respective country (85% on average), while on average a smaller portion is from foreign countries (4.3% from other EU Member States, and 10.5% from third countries).

In 2022, most employees worked in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (18.7%), followed by manufacturing (16.1%), administrative and support service activities (11.1%) and construction (10.2%). In terms of number of enterprises, most can be found in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (15.8%), professional, scientific and technical activities (14.6%), and construction (12.3%).

The highest proportion of employees (45.9%) worked in large companies with more than 250 employees. These companies accounted for only 0.1% of all enterprises in the country, with just 6 009 of such businesses. 27.1% of persons employed worked in micro companies with up to 9 employees, 12.2% of persons employed worked in medium companies with 50 to 249 employees, 7.9% of persons employed worked in small companies with 20 to 49 employees and 6.9% of persons employed worked in small companies with 10 to 19 employees.

In 2024, in France, the occupational groups with the highest occurrence of shortage occupations were: science and engineering associate professionals, building and related trades workers (excluding electricians) and metal, machinery and related trades workers. On the other hand, the occupational groups with the highest occurrence of surplus occupations were: legal, social and cultural professionals, legal, social, cultural and related associate professionals and personal service workers.

Regarding the job vacancy rate (defined as the number of job vacancies expressed as a percentage of the total sum of occupied posts and job vacancies), in 2023 this was 3.1 % in the industry, construction and services, nearly matching the EU27 average. This rate has increased by 0.2 percentage points compared to 2022 and it is still above the situation before 2020, when it stood only at 2.2%.

The sectors with the highest vacancy rates were: human health and social work activities; education; arts, entertainment and recreation; public administration and defence; compulsory social security; administrative and support services.

For 2025, GDP growth is expected to be 0.2% per quarter over the first six months, resulting in total growth of at least 0.5% for the year. Employment is expected to be affected, with 31 000 net jobs being created in 2025, a figure significantly lower than that observed in 2023 (+107 000). The unemployment rate is expected to reach 7.6% by mid-2025.

The main growth sectors are:

• hospitality, catering and security (high seasonality and recruitment difficulties);
• IT and medical care (high recruitment difficulties, few seasonal workers);
• agricultural occupations and entertainment (fewer recruitment difficulties, use of seasonal workers);
• maintenance staff (fewer recruitment difficulties, few seasonal workers). The sectors expected to decline are:
• public service;
• teaching;
• construction and trade, however, with major recruitment difficulties in construction and automobile repair.

In 2025, recruitment intentions will decline compared to 2024 (-12.5%) and represent 2.4 million potential hires. This decline in recruitment plans affects all sectors of activity (ranging from -8.4% in personal services to -22.0% in construction) and almost all occupations: among the 217 occupations included in the survey, only around 20 are seeing a positive change in the volume of recruitment plans, including nurses and midwives (+4.9%), nursing assistants (+3.9%) and hospital service agents (+1.1%).
In 2025, 50.1% of recruitment projects are considered difficult by employers, a decrease of 7.3 points compared to 2024. Difficulties are decreasing particularly in the real estate sector (-11.8 points), scientific, technical, administrative and support services (-10.7 points), construction (-10.3 points, although the difficulty rate remains high at 66.1%), retail (-9.4 points) and accommodation and catering (-9.0 points).

Source: BMO (labour needs) Survey 2025, France Travail

THE 20 MOST IN-DEMAND JOBS IN 2025

Café and restaurant waiters,
Kitchen assistants and multi-skilled catering staff,
Farmers,
Winegrowers, arborists,
Facility maintenance workers,
Socio-cultural activities professionals,
Home helpers and care assistants,
Care assistants,
Cooks,
Self-service employees,
Hotel employees,
Artists (music, dance, performing arts),
Nurses and midwives,
Domestic workers in private households,
IT engineers,
Food sales assistants,
Low-skilled warehouse workers and order pickers,
Cashiers,
Landscape gardeners,
Receptionists and information officers.

Source: BMO (labour needs) Survey 2025, France Travail