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France not doing enough to attract skilled expat workers
| Published: | 28 Dec at 6 PM |
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An OECD study is criticising the French government for not working harder to attract skilled expat professionals.
According to the report, France needs to improve and modernise its economic immigration system in order to make it easier for skilled foreigners to emigrate to the country. Immigration numbers of non-EU nationals are low in comparison with international standards, and are set at 16 per cent of the total number of foreign arrivals in the country.
At the present time, the United States tops the attractiveness league for expat workers, although it’s not known how long it will retain its position due to Trump’s anti-immigrant stance. Canada, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Spain are the top countries welcoming highly qualified immigrants, with France coming in below the top five.
The OECD’s comments illustrate its ‘must try harder’ stance, especially in cleaning up France’s notoriously opaque and complex administration systems as well as tackling its soaring cost of living and housing costs, thus making it more attractive to top expat talent. The country’s social climate as well as its low wages are also blamed for expatriate lack of interest, with the OECD attacking the French immigration system by pointing out better management would result in improved public services and wealth creation.
Updating the list of professions struggling with a shortage of qualified, experienced staff would at least give the government a picture of where foreign professionals could fill the gaps. France also needs to retain graduating foreign students for recruitment by understaffed industries, along with expanding the welcoming systems and offering guidance as a key to maximising integration into the country’s labour market.
In addition, the report calls on the government to correctly address employment by improving available indicators, as well as calling out work permit applications’ excessively discretionary treatment in certain regions, especially with reference to the seasonal labour market.
According to the report, France needs to improve and modernise its economic immigration system in order to make it easier for skilled foreigners to emigrate to the country. Immigration numbers of non-EU nationals are low in comparison with international standards, and are set at 16 per cent of the total number of foreign arrivals in the country.
At the present time, the United States tops the attractiveness league for expat workers, although it’s not known how long it will retain its position due to Trump’s anti-immigrant stance. Canada, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Spain are the top countries welcoming highly qualified immigrants, with France coming in below the top five.
The OECD’s comments illustrate its ‘must try harder’ stance, especially in cleaning up France’s notoriously opaque and complex administration systems as well as tackling its soaring cost of living and housing costs, thus making it more attractive to top expat talent. The country’s social climate as well as its low wages are also blamed for expatriate lack of interest, with the OECD attacking the French immigration system by pointing out better management would result in improved public services and wealth creation.
Updating the list of professions struggling with a shortage of qualified, experienced staff would at least give the government a picture of where foreign professionals could fill the gaps. France also needs to retain graduating foreign students for recruitment by understaffed industries, along with expanding the welcoming systems and offering guidance as a key to maximising integration into the country’s labour market.
In addition, the report calls on the government to correctly address employment by improving available indicators, as well as calling out work permit applications’ excessively discretionary treatment in certain regions, especially with reference to the seasonal labour market.
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