“I have been in a research tunnel for eleven months,” says Gauthier Burgess, a 24-year-old Parisian. Graduated two years ago after studying engineering in industrial biology, he is unemployed after completing a ten-month fixed-term contract.
“They only offer me fixed-term contracts, I have never seen a single indefinite contract,” he laments, fearing that he will not find anything “in the current context” and is already considering, “despite (his) passion for biology,” a possible reorientation.
The trend towards job insecurity is reflected in the statistics of the Ministry of Labor, with a 6.5% decrease in permanent hires last spring, compared to the same period in 2024. On the contrary, those with fixed-term contracts increased by 3.9%, in all age categories together.
Young people also appear to be the most affected by unemployment: the number of unemployed under 25 years of age registered with France Travail increased by almost 30% in one year, up to 542,300 people, according to the latest figures published for the third quarter of 2025 by the ministry.
“Take out the oars”
“In times of economic recovery,” young people are “the first to benefit, but in times of crisis, they are the first to be affected,” Jean-François Giret, director of Céreq (Center for Studies and Research on Qualifications), explains to AFP.
The most qualified are not spared: “We expect employment facilities and, in fact, we still have to take out the oars,” asks Sébastien Popineau, 28 years old, double diploma in Sup’Aéro and HEC and in research for about three months.
Mona, 26, who has been looking for work since 2022 in the cultural sector, sent “at least 200 applications” and received very few responses, often negative.
“What is quite demotivating is that we always ask for at least three years of experience, and work-study programs and internships do not count,” says Zineb Chiheb, 23, from Argenteuil (Val-d’Oise), who is looking for a position in the communications sector. And “if I find a job that suits me, as I am at the beginning of my career, they allow themselves to offer salaries that border on nonsense,” he adds.
The backlog is catching up
Both Mona and Zineb currently have “food jobs”, especially in museum reception. In the same case, Ratshiya Thiruchelvam, 24, a graphic design major, is taking “a short break” from her research after five months without results.
Gatien Teissere, a 22-year-old from Lille, who is also hoping for a job after studying International Law, plans to apply to “make substitutions in National Education, as an English teacher, for example.”
For Jean-François Giret, however, these difficulties in accessing employment for young graduates do not necessarily mean that they are penalized in the long term: “The scar effect remains relatively weak, that is, the generations that entered the labor market at bad times finally recover after about five years,” explains the researcher.
Source: BFM TV
