France

By: Kacie Matthews

Country Overview

France, located in Western Europe, is known for migrant exploitation, providing migrant workers with wage theft, unbearable living conditions, and some legal actions. Recently, in July 2025, the French government responded to the exploitation of migrant workers.

Statistics

• 400,000 to 700,000 undocumented migrants

• Over 50% of undocumented migrants are facing worker exploitation

• Main employment Sectors: Construction, domestic work, cleaning, and hospitality.

Top Countries of Origin

• Ukraine

• Mali

• Pakistan

Remittance Data

• Share of GDP: 0.5%

• Annual Remittance Inflow: 231 Million Euros

Legal Gaps

French court case in which 57 undocumented migrant workers were taken to work for a seasonal period in 2023, and all these workers were faced with overcrowded living quarters, had no electricity, no running water, didn’t receive food or water, and had to work 13 straight hours with no breaks. This reflects on the severity many migrant workers go through, the French government may not realize, nor the migrant worker. As it goes for many Western European countries, the migrant worker may not be willing to reach out to explain the exploitation as, in this case, most of the workers were undocumented, and would be at risk of many issues. Nonetheless, this case was resolved and gave each victim a sum of 4,000 Euros, and charged the man who put these migrant workers through exploitation.

NGO & Legal Resources

• Comité pour la santé des exilés (Comede)

• La Cimade 

“My official shift was from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but I often worked overtime and stayed as late as 11 p.m. Those extra hours were not paid. I did not receive any of the benefits that are common in France, such as transportation and food allowances” (Sarambounou, World Crunch).

Sources

“Labor Exploitation in EU Agriculture: A Persistent Challenge.” Evidencity.com, 22 July 2025, www.evidencity.com/labour-exploitation-in-eu-agriculture-a-persistent-challenge.

“Remittance Inflows to GDP for France.” Stlouisfed.org, 2020, fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DDOI11FRA156NWDB. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.

“Immigration Is Costing France 3.4% of Its GDP.” Gulf Insider, 27 June 2025, www.gulf-insider.com/immigration-is-costing-france-3-4-of-its-gdp/. Accessed 19 Oct. 

2025.

Martin. “France: Other Types of Support - ACA.” ACA - the Academic Cooperation Association Is a Federation of National Organisations from Europe and Beyond, Which All Fund and Encourage the Internationalisation of Their Higher Education Systems., 21 Sept. 2020, aca-secretariat.be/france-other-types-of-support/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.

“Paris Is Relying on Exploitation of Migrant Workers to Prepare for the Olympics.” Worldcrunch, 21 May 2024, worldcrunch.com/focus/migrant-lives/france-olympics-migrants-exploitation/.