Migrants 'reduce jobs for Britons'

10 January 2012 12:15am

There are 23 fewer jobs for British workers for every 100 migrants from outside the EU, the Government's immigration advisers have said.

An increase of 100 foreign-born working-age migrants in the UK was linked to a reduction of 23 Britons in employment between 1995 and 2010, said the Migration Advisory Committee (Mac).

It comes after a report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said the number of immigrants coming to the UK had little or no impact on the number of unemployed.

Average wages remain the same, the Mac said, but it added: "Migrants are found to increase wages at the top of the UK wage distribution and to lower wages at the bottom of the distribution."

The impact and displacement of British workers also does not last forever, the Mac report found. "Those migrants who have been in the UK for over five years are not associated with displacement of British-born workers," it said.

Between 1995 and 2010, the working-age migrant employment total rose by 2.1 million and currently displaces 160,000 British-born workers, it said. But the report added that EU migration had "little or no impact on the native employment rate".

Professor David Metcalf, chairman of the Mac, said: "Assessing the impacts of migration is not a simple decision and our conclusions will require careful consideration by the Government.

"However, our research suggests that non-EEA migration is associated with some displacement of British workers. Financial impacts of migration are also complicated but considering overall GDP does not present a true picture. Instead, the impact of migration on the economic well-being of the resident population should be the focus."

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "This Government is working to reduce net migration from the hundreds of thousands a year we saw under the last government, to the tens of thousands we saw in the 1990s.

"Controlled immigration can bring benefits to the UK, but uncontrolled immigration can put pressure on public services, on infrastructure and on community relations. This report makes clear that it can also put pressure on the local labour market. We thank the Mac for its work and will now consider the report more fully as we work to regain control over our immigration system."

? The Press Association

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5726834660

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