France is to introduce annual quotas for non-EU migrant workers in a taboo-breaking move seen as part of President Emmanuel Macron's attempt to toughen his stance on immigration to ward off the far-Right.

Starting next year, authorities and bosses will earmark industries in need of qualified staff and make it easier to hire foreigners to fill the gap, said Labour minister Muriel Penicaud.

"This is about France hiring based on its needs. It's a new approach, similar to what is done in Canada or Australia," Ms Penicaud told BFM TV.

Others measures due to be official unveiled on Wednesday by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe include suspending health care for asylum seekers and illegal immigrants for the first three months in the country.

The Government says it wants to stamp out “health tourism”, particularly from Albanians and Georgians, who don’t require visas to enter the Schengen passport-free zone.

“Lots come to get healthcare. They know it’s free,” a ministerial source told Le Monde.

Mr Macron recently warned his centrist colleagues not to shy away from tackling immigration or risk being dismissed by many voters as an out-of-touch “bourgeois party”. After initially rejecting the idea of quotas, he mooted the idea in January during a national debate in the wake of "yellow vest" protests.