them were willing to work in agriculture. About two-thirds of the immigrants worked in mining, steel, construction, and automotive industries. Approximately 12% of male immigrants and the majority of female immigrants worked in domestic services, restoration, and commerce (as for French women, a woman working was subject to her husband's authorisation until 1965.) Minor and aged immigrants usually worked in craftsmanship and small scale trades. 1974–present During the 1970s, France simultaneously faced economic crisis and allowed immigrants (mostly from the Muslim world) to permanently settle in France with their families and to acquire French citizenship. It resulted in hundreds of thousands of Muslims, especially to the larger cities, living in subsidized public housing and suffering from very high unemployment rates. Alongside this, France renounced its policy of assimilation, instead pursuing a policy of integration. In 1974, France restricted immigration from its former colonies. According to an Ipsos poll in September 2019, 65% responded that accepting migrants did not improve the situation in France and 45% responded that accepting migrants deprived the French of social services. In 2019, 46.5% of all immigrants were born in Africa, 35.3% were born in Europe, 14.7% in Asia and 5.4% in the Americas and Oceania. In 2020, non-EU citizens had employment rates less than 50% in the southern and southwestern regions of France and in the north and northeastern regions and was above 65% only in the Burgundy region. Immigration flows By region of origin Immigration to France exceeded 200,000 in recent years, as shown in table below. By country Recent immigrants arriving to France as per 2014: The immigrant population In 2014 The National Institute of Statistics (INSEE, for its acronym in French) published a study reporting that the number of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian immigrants in France between 2009 and 2012 has doubled. As determined by the French Institute, this increase resulting from the financial crisis that hit several European countries in that period, has pushed up the number of Europeans settled in France. Statistics on Spanish immigrants in France show a growth of 107 percent between 2009 and 2012, i.e. in this period went from 5300 to 11,000 people. Of the total of 229,000 new foreigners coming to France in 2012, nearly 8% were Portuguese, British 5%, Spanish 5%, Italians 4%, Germans 4%, Romanians 3%, and Belgians 3%. With the increase of Spanish, Portuguese and Italians in France, the weight of European