MPs advocate better measurement of unemployment for more effective policies

Situation of young people, precarious jobs: two members of parliament formulated recommendations in a report on Wednesday, April 29, to improve the instruments for measuring unemployment, which are considered very imperfect, so that they better reflect the reality of the labor market and allow for more effective employment policies.

MPs Gaëtan Dussausaye (RN) and Josiane Corneloup (LR), to whom the Social Affairs Committee had entrusted this "flash" mission, started from the observation that "the indicators usually used in the design of employment policies only imperfectly reflect the reality of the labor market".

Among the problematic points noted is the "growing" gap between the data from the National Institute of Statistics (Insee), which measures the unemployment rate according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) to allow international comparisons via a survey of a sample of households, and the figures from France Travail, which count those registered with the organization.

The report also notes the underrepresentation of populations in the halo of unemployment - without a job but not immediately available to take one or wanting to work but not actively seeking employment - or in a situation of underemployment and the lack of long-term follow-up of certain groups, such as young people.

Through these figures, "it is difficult to assess the real effectiveness of employment policies," summarized Josiane Corneloup on Wednesday when presenting the conclusions, explaining that "a decrease in unemployment can mask an increase in precarious jobs."

Gaëtan Dussausaye pointed out that a large proportion of "NEETs", young people who are neither in school, nor in training nor in employment, remained invisible, under the radar of public policies.

The report makes 11 recommendations. Among other things, it calls for improving the link between INSEE statistics and France Travail data and for publishing territorialized data on underemployment and the halo of unemployment, distinguishing between involuntary part-time work, partial activity or not seeking employment despite availability.

Emphasizing that unemployment has consequences for people's health and housing, the authors recommend "integrating indicators of health, access to rights and autonomy" to better measure the social costs of unemployment and better guide job seekers.

They also recommend "focusing budgetary efforts on personalized support and mechanisms that have proven effective" instead of multiplying programs and accelerating the implementation of local employment roadmaps.