The French government announced stricter immigration measures for non-European Union citizens, after a special inter-ministerial meeting in Paris on Wednesday.

With a series of new laws, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe intends "to take back control of the immigration policy. That means expressing and making clear choices in matters of reception and integration."

For the first time, there will be quotas on migrant workers. Around 33,000 economic visas were granted last year.

Although France has the EU's fourth highest unemployment rate, many employers find it difficult to fill vacancies, most notably in fields such as construction, hotels and domestic services.

The lists featuring the sectors that will be allowed to hire foreign workers will be defined later this year. 

The new measures should facilitate the hiring of foreigners to fill the employment gaps, but also limit the number of unqualified people coming to the country. 

Migrant workers only represent around 13 percent of the immigrants coming to France every year. 

Although the country received a record 122,743 asylum requests last year (up 22 percent from 2017), other European countries welcome more.

According to Eurostat, in 2018 the number of first-time applicants rose 70 percent in Cyprus, 60 percent in Spain, and 29 percent in Belgium.

As part of the tighter rules, the government also plans to impose a three-month "waiting period" before asylum seekers can access basic health cover.

Fraud crackdown

There will also be harder actions against illegal immigration. Asylum seekers who remain after their applications have been rejected will be expelled faster than is now the case. The government also plans a crackdown on fraud by asylum seekers.

According to labor minister Muriel Penicaud, this is "a new approach, similar to what is done in Canada or Australia."

Last year, the French National Assembly passed new immigration laws to toughen up asylum rules and make it easier to deport people. That vote created divisions within President Emmanuel Macron's own centrist party, La République en Marche (LREM).

Today's new proposals come a couple of months before the local elections and the country's left-wing politicians have said the measures are a way of trying to seduce extreme right voters. 

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure, tweeted that the plan was "politically cynical."

Parties on the right of the political divide, such as Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National, said the proposals are a smokescreen and will bring in even more immigrants. 

If Macron decides to stand in the 2022 presidential election, Marine Le Pen will likely be his primary opponent, just like in 2017.

The new measures will come into effect early next year.