Immigrants hold one in ten jobs, but are more numerous in the occupations held by the least qualified: half of all employed immigrants work in occupations in the bottom third of the qualifications scale. Their level of qualification, even if lower on average, is not enough to explain this gap: their position on the qualifications scale is often lower than would be expected given their qualifications, and this 'discount' is particularly high for qualifications obtained abroad. Compared with 1990, the position of immigrants on the qualifications scale has improved, mainly due to the catching up of their level of qualification and, to a lesser extent, to a lower discount.

The qualifications scale accounts for just over half of the distribution of immigrants across occupations. A chain logic is also at work. Immigrant employees often have colleagues of the same origin or from similar countries. This is particularly the case for immigrants from Asia, who are very present in the hotel and catering sector, and, to a lesser extent, for those from Eastern Europe, especially in the building and public works sector; this is less the case for workers from Africa, who are also over-represented in the domestic, security and maintenance professions.

Descendants of immigrants are more highly educated, but their occupations are not the same as those of immigrants. Traces of their parents' specialisation remain, however: the specialisation of 1990 immigrants in unskilled industrial occupations no longer appears for 2019 immigrants, but is still observed for their descendants.