ABSTRACT
While the percentage of immigrants in France has remained the same since 1975, immigration has changed a lot: family reunification has become the main reason for entry, female immigration has increased and immigrants have begun to come from more faraway countries (Tribalat, 1996). Frequently, immigrants work as unskilled or low- skill labourers (52 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women; 42 per cent of these immigrants occupy jobs as unqualified workers). Their over-representation in industry and construction has diminished over recent years. People born in France with two immigrant parents represent five per cent of those under the age of 66. Children of immigrants often have difficulties in school, but no more than children with the same socioeconomic characteristics. In 1999, immigrants represented 7.4 per cent of the population living in the French metropolitan territory (INSEE, 2001). Immigrants born in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco represent 30 per cent of all immigrants. More and more immigrants are arriving from Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey and Asia. Thirty-five per cent of immigrants live in the Paris metropolitan area. In 2002, 53 per cent of immigrants aged 15 or more had a job or were looking for a job, while 16.4 per cent were unemployed. The latter is twice as high as unemployment among ‘native’ French people. According to their country of origin, they have more (Arab and African countries, Turkey) or less (Spain, Italy, Portugal) chance of being unemployed (Miller, 1981). Among the former, one out of five aged between 25 and 59 is unemployed. Another tendency has been the increase in ethnic shops and businesses, which has contributed to a new cycle of integration of these groups in French society (Tavan, 2005).
