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UK: Low-skill jobs data stir migration debate

Friday, 27 May 2011 10:20

Source: Financial Times
By Brian Groom

The number of foreign-born workers filling low-skill jobs has more than doubled in nine years, reigniting debate about immigration and whether welfare reform can encourage more Britons to take jobs such as hotel porters and cleaners.

The Office for National Statistics said 20.6 per cent of low-skill jobs were held by foreign-born workers in the first quarter of this year – up from 9 per cent in 2002. Workers from eastern or central Europe were the biggest factor.

The figure carried on rising through and beyond the recession, despite high unemployment and the fact that the total number of people in low-skill jobs remained steady at 3.2m. Separate figures from the ONS showed overall net migration had risen to a five-year high.

An extra 367,000 people born outside the UK are now working in low-skill jobs, taking the total to 666,000, up from 298,000 in 2002. The number of UK-born workers in these occupations fell 480,000 to 2.56m.

Workers from the eight eastern European countries that joined the European Union in 2004, who are subject to few immigration controls, were responsible for two-thirds of the rise. Their numbers in low-skill categories increased by 4,000 to 239,000.

Across all categories, UK-born workers have fallen by 223,000 over the past decade, while foreign-born workers have risen by 1.7m. Migrants from eastern Europe are concentrated in low-skill posts, whereas the extra 1.01m from non-EU countries are mainly in middle and upper categories.

The government is trying to cut net migration by capping the number of non-EU immigrants and reforming access for foreign students.

John Philpott, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said the figures showed how dependent the UK had become on migrant workers filling vacancies British workers were unwilling to take. It strengthened the government’s case for welfare reform to get the long-term unemployed into jobs.

But Jonathan Portes, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, questioned whether welfare reform would do much to reduce demand for immigrants in the labour market.

That was because immigrants mainly worked in south-east England, not in areas where welfare dependency was entrenched, and because the government’s work programme and universal credit would have limited effect on the young unemployed most likely to be competing for jobs.

Rachel Marangozov, of the Institute for Employment Studies, said tightening controls too much could damage the economy because migrant labour still had an important role in particular sectors.

Damian Green, immigration minister, said: “We accept that employers need to attract the brightest talent from across the world to fill jobs gaps but this should never be at the expense of UK workers.”

The CBI employers’ group said: “A tight labour market in the first half of the last decade meant companies welcomed an additional source of workers from across Europe. With unemployment now at a higher level, the government was right to restrict labour market access for new EU member states from 2008, and the current government plans to do the same for new members.”