Migration, Employment and labour Market integration Policies in France

The purpose of this study is to describe the mode of operation of the institutions involved in migration in France. Migrants’ admission requirements are characterized by difficulties and lack of flexibility. There is a large discrepancy between the egalitarian republican discourse on the one hand and the economic and social reality of ethnic discrimination on the other. In France, several sectors of economic activity are directly or indirectly closed to foreigners, including a large part of public and nationalized sector jobs. Thus, EDF, GDF, SNCF and Air France can only hire workers of French nationality. Similarly, a foreigner can not run a bar or tobacconist’s shop, an entertainment company, a private institution of technical education; cannot be director of a periodical or a broadcasting company, is excluded from a range of business transport, insurance companies and commerce. Indeed, nearly 600,000 private sector jobs are closed to non-EU nationals, except when bilateral agreements exist between France and the country of origin. In addition, the mobility of migrants among the EU countries is impossible.