On Tuesday 31 December, French president Emmanuel Macron gave his speech for the new year on the national TV news. Among his wishes, and retrospective of 2019, he stated that “more than 500,000 jobs were created since May 2017” (the quote is stated at 1.49), this date marking the start of his mandate. So, is this affirmation true? After doing some research on row numbers, it turns out it is.
The French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) conducts yearly trimester studies on jobs creation. Taking into account only the last two trimesters of 2017 (trimester 3 and trimester 4) -as Mr Macron started his mandate almost mid-year- that is about 117,200 of jobs created. For the year 2018, the statistics show that 149,600 jobs were created (this is combined total of trimester 1, trimester 2, trimester 3 and trimester 4). Finally, still according to the Insee, the number goes up to 263,000 for 2019 (here are the numbers for trimester 1, trimester 2 and trimester 3) so far.
The study for the last trimester of 2019 will be released in March, but the three trimesters suffice to get an overall number of 529,800 for the three years since May 2017, when Macron took office. Newspaper Le Monde added an Insee statistic of jobs that were created between the end of the third trimester and the end of the year 2019, which is not yet officially released.
Its is to be noted that the numbers include both the private and public sectors; and take into account the loss of jobs.
Conclusion
The affirmation that more than 500,000 jobs were created since May 2017 is true.
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RESEARCH | ARTICLE © Andréa Bouilly, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, NL