Migrant workers boost economy.
We can now add the Trade Union Congress to the growing list of organisations who, after their own independent research, collectively agree that immigration is having positive net effects upon the economy.
Britain today is a key site of migration, drawing in record levels of labour. As TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Migrant workers are making a substantial contribution to Britain’s economy, and some sectors would collapse if they were removed overnight. They haven’t caused mass unemployment or held wages down as some would have us believe.”
On that last point he was likely referring to Migration Watch UK who state ardently that immigration is placing unsustainable pressures upon housing and public services.
Various reports since 2000 have concluded that migrants generally arrive with an aspiration toward employment and financial stability. Those who do claim benefits are in the minority; are claiming just what any citizen would be entitled to (largely child tax credits); and, as a group, pay more to the state in taxation than they take in benefits.
Within British society there has existed an embedded concern that the influx of new labour will saturate the employment markets and thus force down wages. This, of course, has proved not to be the case. Such a problem has seemingly been avoided through the introduction of the minimum wage by the Labour government back in 1999.
This most recent report, entitled The Economics of Migration, notes in conjunction with the Treasury that migrant labour is contributing around ten per cent toward annual economic growth in Britain.
With this positive trend, the government is setting in place a marketing programme directed toward attracting new businesses and people with sought after skills.
It is certainly true that some economic migrants are struggling to find work, but the numbers are few and predominantly located within the lower-skilled brackets of the employment market. As such this government initiative should prove a useful means of identifying the UK as an economic superpower undergoing unprecedented levels of growth and prosperity. More importantly, it will also help better advise and direct potential migrants to the demands and requirements present within the British economy. This should reduce the numbers of migrants entering the country without expertise specifically required by the economy.
Just as Australia practices a points system, whereby persons applying for residence who are in ownership of skills in short supply are prioritised, this new campaign should assist in attracting educated persons to plug in our own gaps more effectively.
The Home Office and Foreign Office’s joint strategy argues that it is important to market the UK in such a fashion. With a fast developing global economy Britain will increasingly find itself competing with other countries for migrants and tourists and so needs to adopt a strategy of bringing in people with the right skills.
However, there are also some potential negatives that need to be held in continued consideration throughout this. Part of the strategy includes plans to increase Britain’s share of global tourism and education markets through the streamlining and simplification of current immigration processes, such as the adoption of ‘special visas’ for special events like the Olympics.
Whilst the removal of barriers to entry may reduce the number of prospective illegal immigrants, we must maintain a close watch on their entry into Britain and ensure prompt and appropriate deportation; the issue of illegal immigration will not be resolved overnight.
Similarly we must ensure transparency in the employment market so as to help limit the exploitation of vulnerable migrants, particularly those in lower income brackets who are more likely to possess a fragmented education and a limited understanding of English language and employment law. Support services for vulnerable and displaced workers, both national and migratory, need to be treated both equally and effectively in the continuing drive toward reduced unemployment levels.
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I think the biggest threat to Uk ’stability’ is not from immigration but from the real parasites of the welfare state - uneducated white Britons.
This sector consistenly does worse in school than any other ethnic group, is more likely to drink heavily, is more likely to have children in their teenage years, and is more likely to commit crime. Immigrants that come here tend to work their socks off regardless of their educational background and ensure that their children do as well in school as possible.
The presence of these uneducated whites could prove to be a destabilising factor. Newly arrived immigrants tend to settle in the cheaper housing districts, alongside these troublesome whites. When through their own hard work and dedication they begin to swiftly climb the social ladder and move out into the middle class suburbs their white neighbours become angry that these ‘others’ are doing better than they are.
This is when the BNP move in and take advantage of white folk who are crippled by broken families and a culture of welfare dependence to work themsleves out of their own sorry state. From where they stand it is far easier to believe it is immigrants who are the root cause of their predicament.
This is my rash and rather unbalanced assesment of the immigrant ‘problem’.
In reading through the report today, an interesting trend showed up from an earlier report for the Bank of England by Salaheen and Shadforth entitled “The Economic Characteristics and their Impact on Supply”.
It found that more UK-born children left full-time education at sixteen and under than immigrants, who in turn were twice as likely to stay into post-21 study.
Migrants come here to work and succeed and this drive is reflected in strong and comprehensive educational attendence.
Indeed, immigrants should only be perceived problems when they enter the nation by illegal means and are thus more likely to be exploited and enter unlawful practices.
Hey, this came up yesterday, which I wish to submit in support of my case :D
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6150042.stm