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High Unemployment among Immigrants in France

02 June, 2008 06:31:00 The North Africa Journal

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France is a tough place for immigrants as jobs remain difficult to find. The French institute INSEE found that in 2007, the unemployment rate among immigrants in France was twice the national average, settling at 15.2%. A total of 361,000 legal immigrants over the age of 15 were officially looking for a job. The biggest problem plaguing the unemployed population is limited to no professional qualifications or skills. As such, more than 20% of the workforce in no-skill jobs such as security, cleaning, and general services are held by immigrants. In the Ile-de-France, where the city of Paris is located, nearly 70% of cleaning companies’ workforces are immigrants.

But the plight of immigrants extends beyond the unskilled workers. Even among qualified and skilled immigrants, the unemployment rate is three times bigger than the general population. Many of these skilled workers carry foreign degrees, which are often not recognized by the French authorities or hiring companies, while discrimination is also widely believed to be significant in hiring decisions. Further evidence of discrimination based on ethnicity is the fact that workers from European countries such as Portugal, Spain or Italy tend to be on par with the French. In contrast, Algerians and Turkish immigrants face the worst environment.

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Comments (2 posted):

Mark Belliveau on 10 February, 2011 06:49:24

This is expected, as France is the most racist country in the world, especially against the community of French of Algerian origin and Algerian immigrants.
This community has to build its own economy(business, commerce, industry and services)in order to survive.

politics and opinion on 12 March, 2011 08:29:03