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The £6bn question: is UK economy dependent on imported labour or ... - Guardian

The £6bn question: is UK economy dependent on imported labour or ... Guardian, UK - Apr 1, 2008 The flow of new workers from Romania and Bulgaria has been small. The real question on the level of migration to Britain is whether any new countries will ...

The £6bn question: is UK economy dependent on imported labour or ... - Guardian
About 60,000 a year come to the UK on family reunion grounds, mostly from India and Pakistan. But this is simply projecting into the future what has happened in the past. Employers worry the inflow of migrants has peaked and say labour shortages are continuing, particularly in agriculture, care homes and civil engineering projects. Here the Guardian assesses the arguments.The government says migration contributed about £6bn to the growth of the economy in 2006. In practice, the government's policy and the Tories' alternative immigration cap are not that far apart. Is that true?In late evidence to the committee, the government submitted a joint Home Office and Department of Work and Pensions calculation that, over the past 10 years, immigration has led to an increase of 1.5% to 2% in the average citizen's income. It was last updated at 00:27 on April 02 2008. It was last updated at 00:27 on April 02 2008. No government, including a Conservative one, will want to reduce the number of skilled workers or students coming to Britain, as both are net earners for the country. Photograph: Ian Jones/ReutersGordon Brown and business leaders yesterday stressed the economic benefits of immigration to Britain and said a cap on the number of new migrants will be inflexible and prevent companies recruiting the people they needed. Several labour experts predicted numbers will continue to fall even without an economic downturn, raising concerns Britain may lose out in the competition for the next movement of migrants across Europe. Talks are going on with Turkey and Georgia. That leaves a limit on non-EU migration only.Low-skilled migration from outside Europe is already banned. That means a cap will apply only to skilled or semi-skilled workers coming from outside Europe on work permits, a point acknowledged by the peers in the report.These are known as "tier two" workers in the government's new points system. The flow of new workers from Romania and Bulgaria has been small. The government says it is going to limit the number of tier-two workers through the new points-based system later this year, which it says is more flexible than a specific limit. The government says that, as migrant workers on average contribute more to the economy, because they earn more and so pay more taxes and national insurance, they will boost the average living standards of all Britons. The government, however, says that, despite record immigration, the number of vacancies has risen to 680,000, showing that new migrants have not driven up unemployment and are needed to fill skill shortages.So will this level continue? The peers acknowledge that immigration from within the EU cannot be controlled and that Britain must continue to honour its duty to asylum seekers. The peers therefore want to see a limit introduced. The projections say that net migration - the number coming minus the number leaving each year - will continue at 190,000 a year, as it has done over the past five years. The real question on the level of migration to Britain is whether any new countries will join the EU and get the unrestricted right to work in the UK. Their reaction followed a report from the House of Lords economic affairs committee which said that record levels of immigration had had "little or no" positive economic impact on the living standards of the existing population. This calculation is based on a study by the Low Pay Commission, but the peers yesterday dismissed it saying that it was "only one study". This cannot be curbed without causing a major race row. This works out at £300 a head or £30 a year. What about the cap or limit on numbers proposed by the peers and backed by the Conservative party?