In this article, we analyse the relationships between unemployment rates and new-firm start-up rates in France. Using a quarterly data basis covering the period 1993 to 2011, we identify, thanks to data analysis methods, different classes that show different types of development among the French regions. For each of these classes, the existence of refugee/Schumpeter effects both in the short run and in the long run is revealed. At the national level, it appears that the refugee effect explains the dynamics of entrepreneurship in France over the period 2000 to 2011. Necessity is the key motivation for new French firms.