This review, based on a survey of students who completed their schooling between 1992 and 1998, concludes that there is a real barrier to entry to the labour market for young people of visibly immigrant origin. Though this population has been able to benefit from the diversification and democratisation of the French school system, discrimination continues to exist regardless of their level of education or the labour market environment.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, a number of studies have tended to demonstrate that the country of origin (the country where an individual’s parents were born) is not a neutral factor on the labour market. The topic is difficult to approach, and yet it resurfaces in the examination of how well young people are being integrated into the labour market as time progresses.

A series of indicators are used to analyse the first three years of professional activity of young people having completed the higher education system between 1992 and 1998.

The analyses presented in the present document are based on the data from two surveys that retrace the first years of professional activity of young people having completed their education between 1992 and 1998. For the purpose of the present document, the term “children of immigrants” designates young people with at least one parent who was born in a foreign country. These young people are divided into five geographic regions, depending on their parents’ place of birth.

The unemployment rate for children of Maghrebin immigrants three years after completing their education is twice as high as the rate for children of French origin. Conclusions must be more cautious for other regions of origin because the numbers are lower; however, the unemployment rates are still much higher for children of immigrants from these regions. Children of immigrants from disadvantaged countries run an especially high risk of unemployment since they have a low level of training.

Maurice Halbwachs Centre, CNRS
Roxane Silberman (Research manager), tel. +33 1 40 25 10 03

01/01/2006

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Equality

Employment Equality