Study: One in Five Workers in Paris Region Foreign-Born, Often in Low-Skilled Jobs

These immigrants, mostly from Morocco, Algeria or West and Central Africa, often hold low-skilled jobs in which they are exploited. "When we look at the jobs where the share of immigrants is high, we see jobs like home helpers or housekeepers, construction workers too... In Île-de-France, one in two cooks is an immigrant," explains Mustapha Touahir, head of the regional service of the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), to RFI.

During the Covid-19 health crisis, 76% of cleaning agents were immigrants, the same source points out, noting that in Île-de-France they represent a little more than 20% of the population, twice as much as in the rest of metropolitan France. This workforce is more concentrated in Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest department of the metropolis, where nearly a third of the population lives below the poverty line.

In the intermediate and higher professions, this foreign workforce is less important. "We analyzed the education level of immigrant workers... A person with a master’s degree, for example, can end up in a worker or employee job. This phenomenon of downgrading is more pronounced among people of immigrant origin," details Mustapha Touahir.

In Île-de-France, nearly 40,000 immigrant workers with a master’s degree hold a worker or employee job. 56% of them with a bachelor’s degree hold intermediate or higher occupations, compared to 80% for non-immigrants, INSEE points out.