Ethnoreligious Realities in a “Colorblind” Society: North African Immigrant Labor Market Integration in 21st Century France

Abstract

What is the quantifiable effect of North African nationality on labor market integration in 21st century France? Using labor market data analysis, public opinion analysis, and historical analysis, I find a strong and quantifiable negative effect of North African nationality on labor market participation that is compounded by female sex. I also discover a novel skills distribution shift amongst employed North African immigrants from low-skill to mid- and high-skill work, suggesting an emergent upwards career mobility trend. I reinforce my findings with public opinion analyses that show stable and majority-positive views towards Muslims before and after the 2015-2016 terrorist attacks. While my results show North African immigrants have the worst absolute labor market performance of all nationalities, the upskilling trend and stable public opinion are promising conditions for improved labor market integration in the future. My thesis contributes to the existing literature by using an intersectional framework to substantiate, quantify, and nuance the existence of ethnoreligious discrimination against Muslim North African immigrants in the French labor market.