Unemployment not affected by immigration
January 11, 2012 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
A new report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has found that immigration into the UK has ‘little or no impact’ on levels of unemployment, and that migrant workers do not produce greater strain during economic recession.
Source: Guardian
Jobless Migrants Offered free Flights Home
February 8, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
The Guardian – Homeless east European migrants are being offered free flights back to their home country by a government-funded scheme set up to combat the rise of shanty towns in rural Britain.
The scheme, known as the National Reconnection Service, is expected to cost about £150,000 and is being trialled in Boston, Lincolnshire, and Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, two towns that have experienced a large influx of migrants seeking work.
In 2008, the government said that a quarter of Boston’s population was made up of migrants and that 65 languages could be heard in the streets and fields of the county. Workers came to the Lincolnshire town to pick fruit and vegetables, but the jobs dried up during the recession and many migrants returned home.
However, a significant number have remained, hoping that things would get better. As the economy faltered, some found themselves without work or any entitlement to social security benefits. Ultimately, a number became homeless. As a result, some of Boston’s residents now speak of a new phenomenon – shanty towns.
The gap between rich and poor is at its highest for nearly 10 years:Report
December 4, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Christopher Hope
Poverty in Britain is at a nine year high, a report by Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealed yesterday.
The Tories said the report was an indictment of the Government’s failure to tackle low earnings and blew “Labour’s hollow claim to be the party of poverty”.
The study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that the gap between the haves and have-nots started growing in 2004, long before the recession began.
Experts dispute claim that UK’s population will hit 70m in 2029
October 21, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
• ONS ‘assumes influx will continue at 2005-08 rate’
• Immigration has peaked after recession – thinktank
By Alan Travis
Migration experts have challenged new official projections that Britain’s population will hit 70 million by 2029, largely as a result of a future influx of people and births to foreign nationals in the UK.
Tim Finch, head of the Institute for Public Policy Research’s migration programme, said the Office for National Statistics projections published today assumed migration patterns over the next 10 years would mirror those of the last 10.
The ONS figures are based on the average pattern of migration into Britain over three years up to the middle of 2008, before the economic recession began to bite. “Early indications suggest that the peak of net migration, mainly from eastern Europe, has passed,” said Finch. “The next few sets of migration figures will suggest that inward migration is steadying and emigration is increasing. If that trend continues then some of the assumptions that net migration will go on and on that lie behind the projection of 70 million by 2029 may be wrong.”
The ONS projections show that the current UK population of 61.4 million would rise to 71.6 million by 2033, passing the 70 million mark by 2029. Should that happen it would be the fastest rate of population growth seen since the postwar baby boom, with the ONS saying it would mean adding a city the size of Bristol to the population each year.
But claims that a new “immigrant baby boom” are fuelling the rise appear wide of the mark. One in four babies born last year had non-British-born mothers. This partly reflects the younger age profile of recent migrants and the greater prevalence of women of childbearing age, and a higher fertility rate than among British-born women.
Statisticians say 55% of the 10.2 million projected rise over the next 25 years will come from a natural increase in births over deaths, and 45% will be due to more people coming to Britain than leaving.
The home secretary, Alan Johnson, said earlier this year that he did not “lie awake at night” worrying about the population hitting 70 million.
Guy Goodwin, of the ONS, stressed that the figures were not forecasts and did not “take account of new or future policy initiatives”. “Really, they’re just a benchmark that policy-makers and politicians can look at and say, ‘This is where we are heading if things continue very much as they are.’”
The projections are actually lower than the set published last year and are based on the immigration picture in 2006, 2007 and provisional figures up until the middle of 2008. The ONS has revised net migration downwards by 10,000 to 180,000 a year and projected that the 70 million mark will be passed a year later, in 2029, compared with last year’s projections.
Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, said the ONS projections showed that population growth was starting to slow and reforms that the Home Office had made to the immigration system over the past two years were working.
“Last year saw a 44% fall in net migration and we expect that fall to be sustained and reflected in future projections.”
The ONS also suggests the oldest age group is likely to grow the most quickly, with the number of Britons over 85 due to more than double over the next 25 years, from 1.3 million in 2008 to 3.3 million by 2033. The number of centenarians is due to rise from 11,000 to 80,000 by 2033.
Even taking account of increases in the state pension age, those qualifying for a state pension are expected to rise from 11.6 million in 2008 to 15.6 million by 2033.
New life expectancy figures confirm the north-south divide in Britain. Life expectancy is highest for men at 79.2 years in south-east England and for women at 83.1 in south-west England. It is lowest in Scotland, at 75 for men and 79.9 for women.
Life expectancy at birth has improved across the UK since the early 1990s, but while London saw an increase of 4.9 years for men, life expectancy for Scottish men rose only by 3.5 years.
A boy born this year in Kensington and Chelsea can expect to live for 84.3 years compared with only 70.7 years for a boy born in central Glasgow.
Support for 27 high-tension areas
October 13, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News
The government is naming 27 areas which it says need intensive support because of pressure from recession, migration and social change.
Communities Secretary John Denham said the areas would be targeted to help residents understand they had not been forgotten by decision-makers.
A full list of 100 areas is being finalised over the coming months.
The move comes amid internal government debates about how best to reach out to disenchanted white working classes.
The BBC’s home editor Mark Easton said: “The 100 areas have been identified as disengaged and alienated with a sense of resentment and prone to exploitation by the far right.”
The areas, some as small as a housing estate, have been identified from economic data, broader measures of what local people think and analysis from local officials.
Many of the areas to be targeted are predominantly white and working class where traditional jobs have gone amid dramatic social changes.
Some have seen a rise in far-right political activity or long-term anti-social behaviour problems.
Others have seen a collapse in trust in local authorities and services and resentment over the arrival of Eastern European workers. In all cases, existing funding and regeneration plans have not led to a change in perceptions.
Mr Denham said £12m would be spent across the areas to work out exactly why people in these areas feel aggrieved and under pressure.
He said he wanted to combat a perception that some areas were favoured over others in a competition for resources. Mr Denham called on people in the targeted areas to speak out, even if their fears raised “difficult and uncomfortable issues”.
Mr Denham said: “These are communities that are under a great deal of pressure, they have certainly had a lot of money invested in them but lives have changed.
“Work has changed, migration may have changed the communities, people feel that there a lot of competition for social housing and other resources in the community.”
The initiative comes amid continuing pressure from some town halls for help in how to deal with massive social change in areas which have never had to deal with it before.
Some councils have told government they have struggled to maintain the confidence of local people who feel they had been left behind as policymakers have appeared to focus on the needs of incomers.
Mr Denham denied these areas had been largely “forgotten” by policymakers, but added: “These are areas where we know that people will often say I’m not sure that someone is speaking up for us, does anyone really understand what is happening to our lives.”
“We have to demonstrate that people do and that we are on the side of every community in this country, no special favours, privileges, just fairness.”
Story from BBC NEWS
Recession moves migration patterns
September 8, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Andrew Walker - BBC World Service
The global recession has had a marked effect on international migration according to a special report commissioned by the BBC World Service.
Fewer people are moving abroad for work but those who are already abroad are, for the most part, staying put.And in general, money sent by migrants to their families in their home country, has declined.The research was done for the BBC by the Migration Policy Institute, an independent agency in Washington.
And you can see the report explained in graphics .
The story is varied, but the general pattern is that fewer people are moving abroad for work.The number of Mexicans moving to the United States, for example, has fallen sharply – down 40% since 2006.The drop is even greater in the case of Romanians and Bulgarians moving to Spain. Their numbers have fallen by 60%.
Vulnerable
Migrant workers are more at risk of losing their jobs than native workers as they often work in industries especially exposed to the recession – notably construction and hospitality.Hence, for the most part, they are also sending less cash home to support their families.
In the case of Turkey, the decline in these remittances was 43% from 2008, the report says.
The impact of Moldova’s 37% fall is especially severe, because remittances are equivalent to a third of the country’s national income.Although the general trend is downwards, a few countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh, have enjoyed an increase in the amount of money sent home by its citizens working abroad.
Staying put
But despite the loss of income many face, in most cases there has not been a large-scale return home.This may reflect the fact that, for many migrants, economic conditions are even worse at home and it would be difficult and costly if they wanted to return to their host country later.That’s especially true for people who have moved illegally.
There are some striking exceptions to these patterns, however.Many migrants to the UK and Ireland from Central and Eastern Europe have returned home, where economic conditions have not deteriorated as much. And as nationals of European Union countries, they can legally go back to their host country later.
Country on the move
The main focus of the research was international migration, but it did look at one example of migration within national borders, namely China.The numbers are extraordinary.The report says that 140 million have left rural areas in search of work in industrial cities near the coast.That’s the equivalent of the world’s tenth largest population.
Every year millions return home for the Chinese New Year. This year, as China’s economy weakened, record numbers went back and fewer returned to the cities afterwards.
Protecting their own
A recession often pushes international migration up the political agenda, and governments frequently take action intended to protect employment opportunities for their own nationals.Several have cut the numbers of work permits for foreigners, including Malaysia, Australia and Russia.Some, including Spain and Japan, are offering incentives for migrants to return including one-way tickets and lump-sum payments.
The picture the research paints is rich and diverse in detail, but a few things stand out.Migrant workers have been especially vulnerable to the global economic storms that were created by the financial crisis.They are more likely to lose their jobs, and their families at home have paid the price in the shape of less financial support.
Many have pulled down the shutters while the storm rages and decided to wait for better times – either at home or, if they have already moved abroad, in their host country.It is also very plain from the report that migration is an increasingly important part of the global economic landscape.
Investment moves across borders fairly freely in search of the best opportunities. Increasingly, people want to do this as well.The pattern depends on where the opportunities are. But when the economy recovers, people will be on the move once again.
Migration and the Global Recession: A report for the BBC World Service [1.22 MB]
Story from BBC NEWS:
Alan Johnson to unveil limits on UK jobs for foreign workers
September 6, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Gaby Hinsliff
Government hopes tighter restrictions on skilled workers will ease tension in areas of high unemployment.
Alan Johnson, the home secretary, will tomorrow unveil plans to restrict British jobs going to skilled workers from overseas amid concerns about the impact of the recession on attitudes towards immigration.
British firms will be forced to advertise jobs solely through UK jobcentres for a month before being allowed to recruit outside Europe, while the qualification period for skilled foreign workers employed by multinational companies to become eligible for transfers to Britain will be doubled to a year.
The measures recommended by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) are designed to tilt the odds in favour of British jobseekers and those from EU countries with a right to work in the UK. Home Office sources said they would “ensure that British workers are not only first in line for jobs but also now have more time in which to apply”.
Previously, jobs had to be advertised in the UK for only two weeks before being offered abroad. Johnson will tell a conference organised by the MAC that he is accepting all 16 of their recent proposals, which it is thought might have excluded up to one in 10 of the foreign workers granted permits last year.
The move is the latest phase in the government’s campaign to promote what Gordon Brown has called British jobs for British workers, following a number of disputes – including a strike at the Lindsey oil refinery in June – after locals objected to jobs going to foreign nationals. Ministers have warned that such tensions could increase in areas with high unemployment.
The threshold of income at which foreign nationals become eligible for a work permit under Tier 2 of the points-based immigration system, which covers skilled workers, will be raised from £17,000 to £20,000, effectively shrinking the pool of jobs considered skilled.
Immigration in the slump: Newcomers still needed
August 20, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Editorial
History is replete with evidence that the mixing of mass unemployment and xenophobia can prove poisonous, and new figures last week underlined the potential for joblessness to translate into hatred once more. The number of UK-born employees is down by 625,000 over the last year, while the number of foreigners working in Britain is actually slightly up. In these circumstances, it would be easy to whip up a sense of jobs being stolen, and to win cheap political points by restricting the rules – but much more difficult to do anything meaningful for UK workers who are out of a job.
Sensing that something must be done in the face of recession, back in February the then–home secretary, Jacqui Smith, asked the migration advisory committee (MAC) to examine a range of options for significantly tightening the already-tight points-based system for awarding work visas – which had only been introduced the previous autumn. Yesterday the committee reported, marshalling powerful evidence to reach its conclusion that only modest changes were justified. It is more than capable of taking a hard line, as it showed in the spring when it proposed barring foreign workers from tens of thousands of construction jobs.
The truth, however, is that it is now generally only an elite of highly-trained staff that is still eligible to come to Britain from outside the EU purely in order to work. Indian IT workers, for instance, who are shipped in by their firm, or those highly skilled in particular types of medicine or engineering where the UK is short on knowhow. Slamming the door shut – or even leaning on it any further – would do nothing for most unemployed people, who are unable to step into such roles. But it would deter international investment from those Indian firms and could also create recruitment bottlenecks, draining momentum from any recovery.
Total immigration, it is true, has been high by historical standards over the last decade, but the great driving force has been the eastward expansion of an effectively borderless Europe, together with the flow of students that our universities have come to depend on. Already by 2007, there were more Britons going abroad for work than there were non-EU nationals arriving here for the same purpose – and the gap between these two figures will have increased since then. The MAC suggested some tweaks – such as requiring firms to advertise in jobcentres for a little longer before they hunt for staff overseas – which represent a reasonable response to recession, but it rejected a more drastic changes. It was right to do so – keeping out the skills that Britain lacks can only hinder the economy and so, in the long term, the prospects of those without work.
Foreign Workers flee UK recession
May 20, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Alan Travis
The number of foreign-born workers leaving Britain rose by nearly 30% as the economic recession started to bite last year, according to statistics published today.
The latest official figures confirm that immigration to Britain has stalled, with the number of Polish and other east European migrants registering to work in Britain falling by 50% in January to March this year compared with the same period in 2008.
The number of Polish and other east European workers going home to live doubled in the 12 months to September 2008 as the British economy began to contract.
Overall, estimates from the international passenger survey published today show that net migration to Britain – the number coming to stay for more than a year minus those who are relocating abroad – has fallen from 207,000 to 147,000 over the 12 months to September 2008, compared with the previous year.
Further evidence that the rise in immigration in recent years to Britain has stalled is provided by new national insurance numbers allocated to foreign-born workers in Britain, which are down 7% to 720,000 over the same period.
But the latest Home Office figures show a surge of 27% in asylum applications from those coming to Britain to flee the world’s troublespots, with Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at the top of the list.
The number of new asylum seekers coming to Britain rose by 700 to 5,145 between January and March this year, with 41% given permission to stay on initial decision and a further 26% on appeal.
The figures show that the continued drive to deport foreign prisoners continues to take its toll on the removal figures of failed asylum seekers and other illegal migrants. A total of 15,840 people were removed from Britain between January and March this year. This included 2,805 failed asylum seekers – down 7% – and 13,035 non-asylum cases – down 5%.
The 27% rise in asylum applications to Britain compares with an average increase of just 2% across the whole of the European Union.
The Office of National Statistics said the international passenger survey showed that the fall in emigration during the second half of 2007 was driven by a decline in emigration of British citizens, whereas the more recent increase in emigration was being driven predominantly by non-British citizens going home in their hundreds of thousands.
The recession is deterring new workers from leaving eastern Europe for Britain. The number of migrants from Poland and seven other new EU members who applied under the workers’ registration scheme between January and March this year fell to 23,000 compared with 49,000 over the same period in 2008 and 52,000 in the first months of 2007.
New figures on citizenship published today show that applications for British passports fell by 1% last year to 156,015, with the number being granted British citizenship down 21% to 129,375.
A total of 91,450 citizenship ceremonies were held in 2008, down by 24% on the figure for 2007, which was the first year in which the ceremonies were held. – Guardian
Also see:
Immigration and Asylum Statistics Released (UKBA Press Office)
Home Office proposes to slash jobs for skilled migrants by a third
April 29, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Tom Whitehead| The Telegraph
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said 270,000 fewer posts should be on the so-called “shortage list” of jobs, which allows employers to bring in foreign workers without trying to fill them with British staff first.
In the review, construction workers and quantity surveyors were suspended from the list because unemployment among workers in those professions has risen by 500 per cent as a result of the downturn.
Social workers dealing with adults have also been taken off and it will be made harder to bring in care assistants and chefs.
However, orchestral musicians, computer animation specialists and contemporary dancers were added to the list because Britain is not producing enough talented candidates, the report revealed.
The ability to bring in foreign talent is needed to maintain Britain’s “global leadership”, MAC chairman Professor David Metcalf said.
The number of jobs shortage list was cut by a third from 800,000 on the last list and means the total has now dropped by almost half from one million just six months ago.
The figures do not breakdown how many non-EU migrants are employed in such jobs but the cut could affect up to 25,000 foreign workers if the national average is mirrored across the professions.
Prof Metcalf said: “We had to respond to the troubled times and the turmoil in the labour market.
“The main issue that we want to get across is we have responded to the downturn and we have immediately suspended two major occupations.”
There were 4,795 unemployed construction managers in January, compared to 835 a year earlier.
Unemployment among quantity surveyors went from 130 to 730 in the same period.
Prof Metcalf said not all labour market shortages would be eliminated by the recession, which last month pushed unemployment to 2.1 million.
The expert committee, which first reported last year, will complete a full review of all the occupations on its list by September.
It will look closely at seasonal workers such as chefs and engineers.
Maths and science teachers, currently on the list, are also likely to face scrutiny, to see if laid-off financial workers are taking those jobs.
Ministers will look at the list and announce their decision by the middle of next month.
They are likely to accept most, if not all, of the recommendations.
