PARIS

Unemployment in France hit 7.3% at the end of the first quarter of 2022, the country’s statistical body said on Tuesday.

The rate is the lowest in 14 years, since the second quarter of 2008, INSEE said, adding that it is down from 7.4% in the last quarter of 2021.

The figure did not include France’s overseas department of Mayotte.

The official number of unemployed, according to the International Labor Office (ILO) stands at 2.2 million people in France, out of a total population of 67.39 million people.

Employment numbers – the rate of those actually working – reached a high of 68% for people aged 15 to 64, a rise of 0.2% over the last quarter of 2021.

The employment rate is the highest since INSEE started keeping records in 1975.