Economic integration of immigrants through overcoming inequalities in employment and wages. Comparative analysis of British and French Muslim communities

The issue of immigration management is one of the most complex and relevant both in academic science and practical politics. It polarizes public opinion and provokes fierce debate. One of the most important objective of the domestic policy of countries with a large number of immigrants is effective socio-economic integration of foreign cultural communities and consolidation of the civil society. The article deals with the general issues of integration of Muslim immigrants in the UK and France in the economy; provides data on their number, employment, income and social status compared with the ethnic majority. The information framework of the research includes official statistics, sociological surveys, analytics of government institutions and commissions, reports of well-known research centers and Muslim organizations. Due to the peculiarities of statistics it is impossible to directly compare the situation of British and French Muslims. Moreover, in the UK and France, migrant integration is carried out according to different historical models. The article demonstrates the specific features of each country in migrant resettlement, the position of Muslims in the labor market among various immigrant minorities, the issues of the national policy in fighting against discrimination and Islamophobia. The purpose of the article is to focus on objective quantitative and qualitative indicators of economic activity of Muslim immigrants in the two countries in question to overcome the existing stereotypes and political speculation. Analysis of the economic status of Muslims in the UK and France reveals a significant spread depending on the country of origin, country of birth, belonging to the first or the second generation of immigrants. The article concludes that the UK opens up more opportunities for the economic integration of Muslims than France.