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The Labor Market Integration of New Immigrants in France
Carmen Munteanu - Communications Coordinator
14 May 2014
The report "Slow Motion: The Labor Market Integration of New Immigrants in France", published in May 2014, aimed to assess labour market results of new immigrants into this country.
This report, signed by Patrick Simon and Elsa Steichen, is part of a research project funded by the European Union and conducted in collaboration with the International Labour Office, and includes six case studies on the labour market situation of immigrants in European Union countries. The case studies from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom take into consideration the influence of individual characteristics and broader economic conditions on the employment prospects of foreign workers.
France’s labour market can be hostile to recently arrived immigrants or young people seeking their first jobs. There are restrictions on foreign nationals working in the public sector and stringent requirements for certain jobs and professions, which are difficult to fulfil. Meanwhile, given the fact that France has significantly larger proportions of family-reunification migration than labour migration, migrants are not selected based on education or skills. Newcomers often have low educational attainment, which can put them at risk of unemployment. The report reveals that immigrants who arrived in France from 2000 onwards fared badly in the first few years after arrival, but improved their labour market outcomes over time. One year after arrival, approximately half of immigrants were active in the labour market, and after nine years in France, their activity rates almost equalled those of native workers. However, their employment rates were more than 10 percentage points lower than for native workers in 2011.
The analysis of data from the Labour Force Survey in France indicates that the migrants' region of origin, level of education, reason for migration and gender are among the factors that correlate with labour market outcomes.
The full report is available at http://www.migrationpolicy.org.
Source: http://www.migrationpolicy.org
This report, signed by Patrick Simon and Elsa Steichen, is part of a research project funded by the European Union and conducted in collaboration with the International Labour Office, and includes six case studies on the labour market situation of immigrants in European Union countries. The case studies from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom take into consideration the influence of individual characteristics and broader economic conditions on the employment prospects of foreign workers.
France’s labour market can be hostile to recently arrived immigrants or young people seeking their first jobs. There are restrictions on foreign nationals working in the public sector and stringent requirements for certain jobs and professions, which are difficult to fulfil. Meanwhile, given the fact that France has significantly larger proportions of family-reunification migration than labour migration, migrants are not selected based on education or skills. Newcomers often have low educational attainment, which can put them at risk of unemployment. The report reveals that immigrants who arrived in France from 2000 onwards fared badly in the first few years after arrival, but improved their labour market outcomes over time. One year after arrival, approximately half of immigrants were active in the labour market, and after nine years in France, their activity rates almost equalled those of native workers. However, their employment rates were more than 10 percentage points lower than for native workers in 2011.
The analysis of data from the Labour Force Survey in France indicates that the migrants' region of origin, level of education, reason for migration and gender are among the factors that correlate with labour market outcomes.
The full report is available at http://www.migrationpolicy.org.
Source: http://www.migrationpolicy.org
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