Three Million Foreigners, Three Million Unemployed? Immigration and the French Labor Market

September 1, 1999

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Dominique M. Gross Three Million Foreigners, Three Million Unemployed? Immigration and the French Labor Market, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 1999) accessed September 21, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper investigates the effects of the flows of immigrant workers on the French labor market between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s. Using a system of equations for unemployment, labor-force participation, the real wage, and the immigration rate, it is shown that, in the long run, legal and amnestied immigrant workers, and their families, lower the unemployment rate permanently. In the short run, the arrival of immigrants increases unemployment slightly with an impact similar to that of an increase in domestic labor-force participation. The composition of immigration flows matters, and the proportion of skilled and less-skilled workers should remain balanced.

Subject: Labor, Labor force, Labor markets, Migration, Population and demographics, Unemployment, Unemployment rate

Keywords: Amnestied worker, Cointegration, Immigrant worker, Immigration flow, Immigration policy, International migration, Labor force, Labor market dynamics, Labor markets, Maghreb, Migration, Unemployment, Unemployment rate, Worker sare, Workers matter, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

29
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 1999/124
Stock No:

WPIEA1241999
ISBN:

9781451854701
ISSN:

1018-5941

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