by Alex in Toulouse
Sun Nov 13th, 2005 at 07:57:18 AM EST
Back from the front page ~ whataboutbob
This is a summary of the differences in employment/unemployment rates, between immigrants/non-immigrants, and also between people in sensitive suburbs vs people from outside sensitive suburbs, at different levels of education and by gender.
Some information was initially found in French on http://www.inegalites.fr, which was only relaying the result of a national study done by the government body INSEE in 2003 (different elements of this study can be found in French on their website, by using the search engine, so that's what I ended up using.
A) IMMIGRANTS vs NON-IMMIGRANTS
Nota bene: this study does not consider French citizens of immigrant origin as immigrants, but only people who do not have a French passport as immigrants. This study cannot therefore be used to interpret job discrimination for French citizens who are of immigrant origin. It's also important to note that non-European immigrants represent about 61% (est.) of all immigrants in 2005 (55,1% in 1999 census, which I've summed up below).
| (%) | Number of people |
| Europe | 44.9 | 1 934 144 |
| Spain | 7.3 | 316 232 |
| Italy | 8.8 | 378 649 |
| Portugal | 13.3 | 571 874 |
| Poland | 2.3 | 98 571 |
| Other European countries | 13.2 | 568 818 |
| Africa | 39.3 | 1 691 562 |
| Algeria | 13.3 | 574 208 |
| Morocco | 12.1 | 522 504 |
| Tunisia | 4.7 | 201 561 |
| Other African countries | 9.1 | 393 289 |
| Asia | 12.8 | 549 994 |
| Turkey | 4.0 | 174 160 |
| Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam | 3.7 | 159 750 |
| Other Asian countries | 5.0 | 216 084 |
| Americas, Oceania | 3.0 | 130 394 |
| Total | 100.0 | 4 306 094 |
According to this classification, Turkey is in the "Asia" section (!!!)
1) Level of activity (percentage of people with a job):
Nota bene: the figures below show overall active ratios much less than the averages displayed per age group, this is because the overall active ratio means how many people out of all immigrants are active (this includes babies, infants, children, retired people in the ratio, basically anyone from 0 to 25 and 60 and older).
"Active" means "with a legal job". i.e. with social security, unemployment benefits if you get fired etc
| Immigrants | Non-Immigrants | Immigrant ratio (%) |
| Active | Active ratio (%) | Active | Active ratio (%) | |
| Men | 1 356 000 | 64.8 | 13 420 000 | 61.8 | 9.2 |
| 15-24 years old | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 25-39 years old | 520 000 | 89.2 | 5 274 000 | 94.5 | 9.0 |
| 40-49 years old | 373 000 | 91.6 | 3 621 000 | 95.1 | 9.3 |
| 50-59 years old | 346 000 | 78.,4 | 2 813 000 | 79.7 | 11,0 |
| Women | 1 012 000 | 46.0 | 11 668 000 | 49.5 | 8.0 |
| 15-24 years old | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 25-39 years old | 361 000 | 59,7 | 4 546 000 | 81,8 | 7,3 |
| 40-49 years old | 331 000 | 71,0 | 3 273 000 | 84,3 | 9,2 |
| 50-59 years old | 236 000 | 59,3 | 2 489 000 | 67,8 | 8,7 |
| TOTAL | 2 367 000 | 55,2 | 25 088 000 | 55,4 | 8,6 |
Quick conclusion: immigrant men are more likely to have a job than non-immigrants ([editor's note, by DoDo] see correction in Migeru's comment), but immigrant women are more likely to be unemployed than non-immigrant women. However this doesn't mean much: immigrants men may find it easier to get jobs because they may be doing more menial jobs? Let's find out...
2) Socio-professional category (what kind of job):
| Activity of immigrants (%) | Immigrants make up how much of this category overall in France? |
Category | Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | Total |
| Farmers | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Self-employed craftsmen, shop owners, company directors | 11.0 | 3.6 | 7.9 | 12.2 | 6.8 | 10.6 |
| Executives, intellectuals, doctors, lawyers etc | 13.2 | 10.0 | 11.9 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 6.5 |
| Intermediate Jobs | 13.1 | 12.9 | 13.0 | 5.0 | 3.8 | 4.4 |
| Regular company employees | 12.3 | 52.9 | 29.1 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 8.0 |
| Workers | 49.6 | 20.0 | 37.3 | 11.5 | 13.9 | 11.9 |
| including: Specialised workers | 30.8 | 5.3 | 20.3 | 10.0 | 9.4 | 10.0 |
| including: Non-specialised workers | 15.2 | 13.0 | 14.2 | 14.1 | 12.6 | 14.9 |
| Undetermined category | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 17.7 | 27.8 | 21.1 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 8.5 | 7.2 | 7.9 |
Quick conclusion: either there is discrimination towards immigrants which prevents them from being doctors, lawyers etc, or immigrants have a lower level of education which limits the types of jobs they can do? Or both? Let's find out ...
3) Level of education
Diploma | Immigrants (%) | Non-Immigrants(%) | Entire Population(%) |
| Masters / Higher University degree (4, 5 or more years after high school) | 12.5 | 11.0 | 11.1 |
| Bac+2 (Basic University degree => i.e. 2 years after high school) | 5.8 | 10.9 | 10.4 |
| Baccalaureate or equivalent (US High School graduation or English A/Levels) | 12.9 | 16.9 | 16.6 |
| CAP, BEP (specialised worker/craftsman diploma) | 12.8 | 25.1 | 24.0 |
| BEPC (school up to the age of 16) | 5.5 | 10.9 | 10.4 |
| No diploma or only a primary school certificate | 50.5 | 25.2 | 27.4 |
| Total (%) | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Number of people | 3 490 000 | 33 955 000 | 39 444 000 |
Quick conclusion: Indeed, 50,5% of immigrants have no diploma at all. But a larger ratio of immigrants make it to a "higher university degree" than non-immigrants.
B) SENSITIVE SUBURBS vs REST OF FRANCE
1) Unemployment ratio at different levels of education, betwen Sensitive Suburbs and the rest of France
Nota bene: the term in French for a "Sensitive Suburb" is ZUS (Zone Urbaine Sensible). It is estimated that at least 16,5% of residents of these areas are immigrants, others are French (for the latter, again this makes no distinction between French of immigrant origin or French of non-immigrant origin).
Diploma | Sensitive Suburds (%) | Rest of France(%) |
| Masters / Higher University degree (4, 5 or more years after high school) | 11.7 | 7.6 |
| Bac+2 (Basic University degree => i.e. 2 years after high school) | 10.8 | 6.0 |
| Baccalaureate or equivalent (US High School graduation or English A/Levels) | 17.7 | 8.7 |
| CAP, BEP (specialised worker/craftsman diploma) | 17.0 | 8.6 |
| BEPC (school up to the age of 16) | 21.6 | 10.9 |
| No diploma or only a primary school certificate | 25.0 | 14.8 |
| Total (%) | 19.6 | 9.8 |
Quick conclusion: there is a blatant gap between these two zones (overall 19.6% vs 9.8%)!! At a similar level of education, people from a sensitive suburb have generally twice more chances of being unemployed (the only category in which they come close is "Higher university degree" but even there it's a 4 point difference). However, it appears that the higher the level of education, the lower the risk of unemployment, and this is true in both cases (i.e. sensitive suburbs and rest of France). This stops being true for higher university degress, as it is harder to find a job when you're overqualified! Let's now find out how this affects men and women ...
2) Impact of Education and differences by gender, between sensitive suburbs and the rest of France
Nota bene: This table uses a Base 100 percentile which represents, in each column, the unemployment level for people in that column with no diploma at all. Therefore, a figure below 100, like 50, means that there are less unemployed people (for 50 it means twice less unemployed people) for that particular category, than if they had no diploma at all.
| Sensitive Suburbs | Rest of France |
Diploma | Men | Women | Men | Women |
| Masters / Higher University degree (4, 5 or more years after high school) | 65.5 | 29.2 | 50.5 | 55.0 |
| Bac+2 (Basic University degree => i.e. 2 years after high school) | 49.7 | 28.6 | 36.7 | 37.8 |
| Baccalaureate or equivalent (US High School graduation or English A/Levels) | 67.3 | 60.3 | 56.1 | 50.0 |
| CAP, BEP (specialised worker/craftsman diploma) | 63.6 | 62.9 | 57.6 | 72.0 |
| BEPC (school up to the age of 16) | 83.1 | 73.0 | 65.8 | 68.5 |
| No diploma or only a primary school certificate (BASE 100) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Quick conclusion: there is a big difference between men and women of the Sensitive Suburbs. Men of these Sensitive Suburbs with a Higher University degree, have just one-third more chances of finding a job than if they had no diploma at all and quit school before age 16 (the recurrent question for them would then be: why bother to study at all, then?).
Also, it seems, at first glance, that women from Sensitive Suburbs have more chances of finding a job than their "rest of France" counterparts in 3 categories, and come close in 2 other categories (example: 29,2 vs 55,0 for "Higher university degree"). However this is a wrong assumption, because the base 100 is not the same for these 2 categories. Indeed, if you look back at the table before this one, you'll see that the national average ratio of unemployment, at a "no diploma" level of education, is 25,0% for the Sensitive Suburbs, vs 14,8% for the Rest of France. (11-11-05 NEW: found 2004 figure for Base 100, the ratio is in fact 1.61, so figures below are not too far off target, only they should be slightly less). I could find no figures for women vs men, but by using the national average, which is more or less 1.69 times more unemployment at Base 100 for the Sensitive Suburbs (i.e: 14,8 * 1.69 = 25) ...
Adjusted figures (now there is only one Base 100, which is that of Women with no diploma, living outside of Sensitive Suburbs), using the national average for adjustment (which is inexact as we don't know whether women with no diploma at all in the Sensitive Suburbs have more, or fewer, chances than males with no diploma in Sensitive Suburbs, of being employed - ie we don't know if women there are above or below the 25% average for the "no diploma at all level" in Sensitive Suburbs for both sexes taken jointly ... my money is on women having it better than their male counterparts, which would make the figures below look better for Sensitive Suburbs women. I'll keep on looking for this figure, when I find it I'll update the table below):
Diploma | Women (Sensitive Suburbs) | Women (Rest of France) |
| Masters / Higher University degree (4, 5 or more years after high school) | 49.3 | 55.0 |
| Bac+2 (Basic University degree => i.e. 2 years after high school) | 48.3 | 37.8 |
| Baccalaureate or equivalent (US High School graduation or English A/Levels) | 101.9 | 50.0 |
| CAP, BEP (specialised worker/craftsman diploma) | 106.3 | 72.0 |
| BEPC (school up to the age of 16) | 123.4 | 68.5 |
| No diploma or only a primary school certificate | 169 | 100 (BASE 100) |
With this uncertain adjustment, we end up seeing that women in Sensitive Suburbs have more chances of employment than their "Rest of France" counterparts at a level of "Higher University Degree", come closer to their counterparts with a higher level than High School, but are distanced at levels below that, and overall are still distanced. This level anyhow provides them with twice as many chances of employment as males from the Sensitive Suburbs, who are far behind their male counterparts from the "Rest of France" (and I haven't even adjusted the figures for men to use the Rest of France Base 100 yet!). The men really have it tough!!
It therefore seems that the stereotype of the morose, menacing "banlieue" (suburbs), in the media and in people's backward minds, is largely focused on male figures.
Also, to close this chapter, it must be noted that unemployment in Sensitive Suburbs, which currently stands at 25%, was at 19% in 1990.
