France’s immigration minister in 2007: half of newcomers to come for work by 2012. In 2012 it was 7.9%
Brice Hortefeux16 October 2007 · hearing of the National Assembly law committee on the 2008 budget (target from Sarkozy's mission letter of 9 July 2007)
«Specifically, the aim is to rebalance migration flows so that by 2012, 50% of them are economic.»
The goal was half of the flow for work by 2012; in 2012, 7.9% of first residence permits were issued for work (15,827 of 199,500).
Fact: Eurostat, migr_resfirst (первые виды на жительство по причине выдачи), выпуск 28.09.2026
The goal was set by Sarkozy himself in a letter to the minister. From 2008 the work share fell; its highest was 17.3%, in 2023.
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Sarkozy promised «chosen immigration»: fewer newcomers for family and other reasons, more invited to work. The minister named a number: half the flow by 2012. Here is the share of residence permits issued for work.
First the words: who said it, when and where, verbatim (translations are ours). Answer Yes or No, or just open the answer: the stamp is the outcome, below it what came of it. On the chart the dark line is the fact year by year up to the deadline, the pale one after it; the blue dashed line is the promised number from the year of the words to the deadline, the light band the time the promise gave; the ring on the line is when it was said, the ring in the stamp’s colour the fact in the deadline year, beside it how far it landed from the goal. The numbers on the right are the scale.
- Brice Hortefeux, hearing of the National Assembly law committee on the 2008 budget (target from Sarkozy's mission letter of 9 July 2007) quote
«Concrètement, il s'agit de rééquilibrer les flux migratoires de manière à ce que, à l'horizon 2012, 50 % de ces flux soient d'origine économique.» — Specifically, the aim is to rebalance migration flows so that by 2012, 50% of them are economic.
- What happened did not come true
The goal was half of the flow for work by 2012; in 2012, 7.9% of first residence permits were issued for work (15,827 of 199,500).
Eurostat, migr_resfirst (первые виды на жительство по причине выдачи), выпуск 28.09.2026
Quote: the record of the National Assembly law committee’s hearing of 16 October 2007 (p. 2). Fact: Eurostat, first residence permits in France by reason (migr_resfirst): issued for paid work, out of all. Outcome: «came true» — the promised number reached by the deadline («about» within 5%), an event happened before the end of the year promised; «exceeded» — with room to spare; «nearly» — short by no more than 10%; «late» — reached, but after the deadline; «did not come true» — not reached; «came true, then undone» — reached, then reversed. The deadline is the end of the year named.
The quote is the committee’s official record of the minister’s words. The ministry counted «long-term settlement» flows its own way, without some students and temporary permits, but in its count too the work share stayed around 10% in those years. EU citizens move freely and are not in these data.
A question for this picture
How much of migration can a government choose by itself?