We are talking here about people born abroad to foreign parents… but these workers established in France support many aspects of French activity. According to the Ministry of Labor, they represent 40% of jobs in personal services, almost a third of construction workers or security guards and 20% of positions in the hotel and catering industry.
The OECD, which carries out an annual study on international migration, points out that these workers are present in France at all educational levels. And here again, the surveys are formal: immigrants and natives are not competitors on the labor market, they are complementary. Either because the immigrants occupy jobs neglected by the natives, or because they work in sectors with a labor shortage.
How do we measure their impact on the French economy?
Firstly, on a strictly economic level, immigrants contribute to the national wealth because they are consumers like the others who need housing, food, clothing… and all this stimulates activity…
And then, they pay social contributions, taxes and duties which go into the coffers of the French State.
Moreover, many countries seek to attract foreign labour. How is immigration changing in France?
Let’s start with the “picture” of the situation. According to the OECD, immigrants represent 10% of the French population compared to 16% in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, and up to 20% in Austria. And if we look at the arrivals: the immigrants welcomed each year in France represent 0.4% of its population. It is twice as much in Austria and Sweden, and 0.6% for our German neighbor.
Starting from there, the economic analysis council, the CAE, is formal: “our country does not attract enough immigrants, or has trouble retaining them. By comparing with the United States, the CAE emphasizes that immigrants promote the competitiveness of companies “because they want it”, and because cultural diversity promotes creativity and innovation.
All this put together, to speak of a “massive wave” of immigrants in France is false information. And against a backdrop of labor shortages, it is rather the disaffection for our country that should be worrying.