France
FR desk: France first; euro area, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and United States alongside.
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As of 2025 | % of population ages 15+
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 55.35% |
| 2024 | 55.66% |
| 2023 | 55.94% |
| 2022 | 55.84% |
| 2021 | 55.55% |
| 2020 | 54.27% |
| 2019 | 54.94% |
| 2018 | 55.30% |
| 2017 | 55.26% |
| 2016 | 55.40% |
| 2015 | 55.62% |
| 2014 | 55.76% |
| 2013 | 56.27% |
| 2012 | 56.23% |
| 2011 | 56.02% |
| 2010 | 56.22% |
| 2009 | 56.31% |
| 2008 | 56.13% |
| 2007 | 56.06% |
| 2006 | 55.92% |
| 2005 | 55.99% |
| 2004 | 55.85% |
| 2003 | 55.99% |
| 2002 | 55.40% |
Labour force participation is the share of people ages 15 and over who are employed or unemployed (SL.TLF.CACT.ZS). It is not the unemployment rate. Latest: 55.35% in 2025.
A falling unemployment rate can coincide with people leaving the labour force. This series is the usual check. From 1990 to 2025 (36 years): mean 55.54%, median 55.48%; low 54.27% (2020), high 56.31% (2009).
Source: World Bank Open Data. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (terms).
This series is the labour-force participation rate for people aged 15 and over: the share who are either employed or unemployed and looking for work. The source is World Bank Open Data indicator SL.TLF.CACT.ZS, an ILO modelled estimate. It measures who is in the labour market, not what they earn, and it is not the same as the employment ratio: unemployed people count in the numerator here but not there.
Participation reflects retirement ages, education, caring responsibilities and social norms as well as job availability, so levels differ for reasons that have little to do with the unemployment rate. The series is modelled from national surveys and censuses and is revised periodically. Use the chart and range buttons to follow one economy and the ranked ledger to compare latest published years. Treat small cross-country gaps with caution, because the estimate carries uncertainty where survey coverage is thin. A fall can mean people left the labour force rather than lost work, so read it with the unemployment rate.
The France desk places France first and shows the euro area, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States alongside it, plus other euro-area members where the indicator covers them. It republishes the same World Bank ILO modelled estimates as the all-countries pages, filtered to this set, and does not recompute the values for the desk. Taiwan is shown only on the headline unemployment page, where the rate comes from the IMF World Economic Outlook because the World Bank does not publish one.
Use the Country selector to switch desks, the Chart and Table tabs for the same data in two forms, and the range buttons to shorten the period. The indicator code, source and licence are named on each page. The euro-area aggregate and the French national series are published separately, so they can differ even when both are shown.