Despite facing a major labor shortage, the French government passed a more restrictive immigration bill this week after changing measures that would have simplified the legalization of foreign workers. However, some of the law's new provisions may still offer hope for the country's thousands of undocumented migrants.
Until it was unblocked, the sticking point – as far as the French right was concerned about the Macron government's sweeping immigration bill – was how to deal with the country's undocumented immigrants.
When presenting the initial text of the bill a year ago, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt included provisions facilitating the legalization of undocumented migrants working in labor-scarce sectors. But representatives of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party repeatedly stated they would not support legislation granting legal status to undocumented workers.
After the bill's language was significantly weakened in a joint committee, Le Pen saw an opportunity for a strategic victory and changed course. The bill was approved last Tuesday, December 19, by the National Assembly, the Lower House, with the support of the former presidential candidate.
Although it does not go as far as the original text, New law offers undocumented workers in high-demand occupations a path to obtain residency permits. A day after the law was passed, Darmanin said he expects the number of regularizations to double, with “ten thousand additional foreign workers each year.”
But the law will also make things more complex and riskier for undocumented workers in France: A law abolished by former president François Hollande that allowed police to fine foreigners up to 3,750 euros if they were found in the country has been reintroduced. The bill also intensifies sanctions against companies that employ people without permanence authorizations.
“Undocumented”
The number of undocumented workers, or what the French call the “sans papiers” (without papers), it is impossible to calculate. Darmanin himself estimates that the figure ranges between 600,000 and 900,000.
Amadou, which is not his real name, moved to France from Mali on a work visa in 2001. For many, overstaying a legal visa is the most common path to becoming an undocumented migrant in Europe.
Finding a job has never been a problem. Amadeu has worked mainly in the hospitality sector and in nursing homes. Currently, he works in a restaurant in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. “I have been working in France for 19 years, without vacations, without sick days or absences,” he said.
Amadou first applied for work documents, unsuccessfully, in 2012. The second time, in 2018, he was denied because he had no children or a partner to support. Since then, despite the help of his employer, he has not been able to find another way to regularize his situation.
Amadou belongs to an association that supports undocumented migrants in Montreuil, a suburb east of Paris. He often participates in protests, but feels that he and others in his situation are forgotten. “I would like to get my papers, but considering that it is the politicians who decide, we are not their priority,” he adds.
The right-wing party, The Republicans of France, and the far-right party, National Rally, are reluctant to support a path to legalization because they believe that migrants choose France for its advantageous social system. Therefore, according to that logic, making life difficult for migrants will prevent more from coming, an idea that has no basis, according to several French investigations.
On the contrary, studies affirm that the legalization of migrants has positive macroeconomic and fiscal results in developed countries.
Citing research by the Institute of Labor Economics in the French financial daily Les EchosFrench economist Pierre Cahuc defended the advantages that legalization can have for a country's economy.
“It is a crucial factor to take into account in the context of low growth and aging of the population,” Cahuc commented. “From a purely fiscal point of view, legalization could also have a positive impact, since declared work generates income for the State coffers.”
Violaine Carrère, a lawyer at Gisti, a migrant support and information group, supports that theory. “When you are on the payroll, you pay social security. And with a real salary, you can spend more,” she commented.
Carrère maintains that not only does it benefit the economy, but legalization allows migrants to “fully integrate and lead a dignified life.”
“Staying stagnant, working all the time, is not a life that many people would like to live (…) Everyone wants to be happy, have a good life, a roof over their heads and a family. If you don't have papers, everything is out of your reach,” laments Amadou.
Labor shortage
Under French President Emmanuel Macron, unemployment fell to 7.4% of the workforce, the lowest level in more than a decade. Macron pledged to continue this mission, pushing for full employment, which the country's labor organization considers to be 5%.
At the same time, eight out of ten professions in France suffered from labor shortages in 2022, according to the Directorate of Research, Studies and Statistics. This figure increased from seven out of 10 in 2021, due to France's aging population and a wave of resignations.
Aiming for low domestic unemployment rates while seeking to increase migrant labor may seem contradictory. But it is simply not possible to compensate for the shortage of workers in France with a national labor supply that is mostly young: around 17% of young French people are unemployed, significantly higher than the European Union average.
The research focuses on three central reasons for this, says Anna Piccinni, an immigration policy analyst. The first and second are skills and remuneration disparities: many of the increasingly qualified young people are not motivated by low-skilled jobs, especially if the salary level is not what they expect.
![File- A young Moroccan migrant stands on the Italian side of the border, while trying to enter France with a group of men, in Claviere, in the Alps, on December 8, 2023.](https://s.france24.com/media/display/1dc5bb82-a193-11ee-877f-005056a97e36/000_347N63K.jpg)
The third reason Piccinni expresses is that labor shortages are often localized and migrants offer a more mobile workforce, filling gaps that non-migrant workers may not be able or willing to fill. “Low-skilled labor shortages often do not occur in urban areas, where young people move to study and then stay in search of work. Migrants have the potential to fill these gaps,” she adds.
In fact, he notes that many municipalities across Europe are creating incentives to retain migrant populations, such as Altena, a small city in Germany known for its successful integration plan.
This point has not gone unnoticed by the French business community. In statements to Radio Classique Before Tuesday's vote, Patrick Martin, who heads the French employers' union, said that relying on a foreign workforce is necessary for the country.
“We are already experiencing enormous hiring pressure,” Martin said. According to him, “we have to call a spade a spade and make a decision to allow a larger migrant workforce.”
For Piccinni, this cannot be achieved without fewer bureaucratic obstacles to issuing work permits to migrants who have already demonstrated a commitment to participate in the economy. “This has to be part of the solution,” she says.
Even the most anti-immigration governments in Europe are doing this, he notes. The Government of Georgia Meloni in Italy signed a decree in March allowing 82,000 non-EU migrant workers to work in the country, due to seasonal labor shortages.
“Beyond the perception of migration as a threat to social cohesion and security, some governments are aware and willing to recognize the role it plays in meeting the needs of employers,” Piccinni concluded.
Article adapted from its English version
#Undocumented #immigrants #France #face #uncertain #future #immigration #law