Discrimination is keeping the children of immigrants at the bottom of France’s economic pile, a report advised prime minister Manuel Valls this weekend. Young men of sub-Saharan African origin face the biggest obstacles in finding jobs, ahead of a ministers’ meeting on tackling inequality, reports RFI.
Figures compiled from a number of studies show that economic integration is a “massive” problem for the descendants of immigrants, said Jean Pisani-Ferry, the head of France Stratégie, a body attached to the prime minister’s office.
In 2012 unemployment among under-25s of African origin was 42 per cent in 2012, compared to 22 per cent among descendants of European immigrants and those of families long-established in France.
Among children of immigrants from other continents it was 29 per cent.
“The young man of sub-Saharan origin is the one who has the most difficulty,” Pisani-Ferry said.
“The colour bar still exists, that’s the main source of inequality,” Bernadette Hétier of French anti-racism campaign Mrap told RFI. “But the study had to do with young men and, whether from sub-Saharan Africa or northern Africa, racism against young men is stronger than racism against young women.”
She blames “fantasies, in the negative sense of the word” leading to a perception that “men are seen as more dangerous”.
“There is an element of fear,” she added.