France will establish annual economic immigrant quotas based on the needs of its labor market, French Employment Minister Muriel Pénicaud confirmed on Tuesday in a joint interview with the BMFTV television network and the RMC radio.

The objective of this measure would be to cover "professions, regions or labor needs" that are not sufficiently covered now. Currently some sectors or professions in France have difficulties in finding qualified French personnel or from other European Union countries for these positions, but neither can they recruit employees from third countries, so some positions remain unfilled.

Although the priority will continue to be the training of French youth and unemployed to fill these positions, the Government of Emmanuel Macron wants to facilitate the arrival of qualified immigrants from third countries depending on the needs of the country.

According to the Minister of Employment, there will be no country fees , but France will recruit based on the needs of its labor market. For that, fees will be established annually "depending on unmet needs, we will establish fees by profession and by territory," said the minister. Pénicaud considered that it is necessary that the economic immigrants that France welcomes "correspond to the needs that we cannot cover".

For example, after the fire of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris six months ago, experts warned that, in addition to money, specialized labor will be needed to restore the Parisian cathedral and that France did not have enough artisans to do so.

Australia and Canada model

The role model in France would be that of Canada or Australia , according to the minister. Canada selects its economic immigrants according to the economic needs of the country, but also according to the training of immigrants, their skills, their professional experience or their knowledge of English or French, the two official languages ​​of the country.

The economic immigrant from a third country who goes to France to work "will have a work visa, for a specific duration and time," said Pénicaud, one day before French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced a battery of measures on the subject Immigration

Before establishing these annual quotas, the Ministry of Employment will consult with the social partners, the regions, the National Assembly and the Employment Office in order to determine what positions would be necessary to fill with economic immigrants from third countries. In 2018, France issued 33,000 work visas for foreign immigrants , the minister said.

Labor shortage

Currently about 150,000 jobs in France are not covered due to lack of candidates, according to Pôle Emploi, the French Unemployment Service. France has a shortage of labor in two types of jobs: those that require little training, such as construction, hospitality or restoration ; and highly qualified jobs as computer engineers.

Interestingly, Macron had shown himself in the past contrary to the establishment of immigrant quotas. Now it seems, however, to have taken a right turn in its immigration policy.

Macron and the far-right leader Marine Le Pen are practically tied in the voting intention polls for the 2022 presidential elections and would face a second round, according to a poll published Sunday by "Le Journal de Dimanche."

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