Migration IS killing off jobs: 160,000 Britons have missed out on employment because work was taken by foreigners

23 fewer jobs for British workers for every 100 migrants from outside EU, says report



Migration Advisory Committee findings contradict different study which says migrants do NOT keep Britons out of work

Migrants are also pushing up house prices, Mac report finds



Migrants have forced tens of thousands of Britons out of the workplace, a landmark report warned yesterday.

An independent panel of advisers found that, between 2005 and 2010, 160,000 people had been ‘displaced’, or left jobless, by a huge influx of foreign workers.

For every four migrant workers who come to the country from outside the EU, one British job is lost, the experts 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, the Migration Advisory Committee said

The Migration Advisory Committee also criticised the way ministers have used the potential impact on Gross Domestic Product, or GDP – the total size of the economy – to decide whether large-scale immigration was desirable.

Professor David Metcalf, chairman of the MAC, said it had led ‘inexorably’ to ‘pro-immigration’ policies because more migrants will logically expand the economy.

He called on ministers instead to consider the impact on schools, hospitals, congestion, crime rates and house prices.





Romanians outside the British Embassy in Bucharest seeking a visa which will give them entry to the UK

Referring to the current system, Professor Metcalf said: ‘The main gainer is the migrant. It’s not the British resident. The focus should be on the British resident.’

Tory ministers were last night urged to seize on the findings of the report to impose far stricter border controls.

To date, the Liberal Democrats have been undermining attempts to crack down on economic migration.

But, in the first study of its kind, the MAC – set up by the last Labour government, and independent of Whitehall – said large-scale immigration was having a significant impact on the job prospects of the ‘native’ population.

The report, which follows years of controversy over whether immigration leads to fewer jobs for British workers, showed that every 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.

Between 2005 and 2010 alone, the number of working-age migrants in employment rose by 700,000 and displaced 160,000 British-born workers, it said.

Average wages remain the same, the MAC said, but the highest wages get higher and the lower wages get lower.

Asked if there would be 160,000 extra jobs for British workers if there had been no immigration, Professor Metcalf said: ‘Yes, that would be a reasonable way of putting it.’

It follows a contrasting report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research which said the number of immigrants coming to the UK had little or no impact on the number of unemployed.

The MAC report found that house prices and rents are being pushed up by the number of migrants coming to the UK.

It added that migrants will inevitably contribute to the demand for public services, commit crime and generate congestion in the same way any increase in the UK-born population would.



However, the report concluded that migrants from inside the EU, including Eastern Europe, have ‘little or no impact on the native employment rate’.









Professor Metcalf said: ‘It may well be that the EU migrants are disproportionately less skilled and it may be that the labour market can adjust.’

It is likely that hard-working migrants from countries such as Poland are doing jobs which British workers are unwilling to take.



Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, said: ‘This is a thoroughly professional report.

‘The committee have had the courage to say straight out that immigration can add to unemployment, especially during a recession.



‘They are also right to draw attention to impacts that are harder to quantify such as housing and congestion.’



On Monday, MigrationWatch said it would be a ‘remarkable coincidence’ if there were no link between a 600,000 rise since May 2004 in the number of eastern European migrants working in the UK and a 450,000 rise in youth unemployment in the same period.



Immigration Minister Damian Green said: ‘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.’





...WHILE SEPARATE STUDY BEGS TO DIFFER Research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has contradicted claims by campaigners that foreign workers are crowding the jobs market.

Instead, the institute's study found that there was 'no association' between higher immigration and joblessness. Researchers even suggested the opposite might be the case and immigration acts as an economic stimulus, pushing total employment levels higher and dole claimant numbers lower than they would otherwise have been. Research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research found that there was 'no association' between higher immigration and joblessness The report said: 'Perhaps surprisingly, the interaction between migrant inflows and GDP emerges as positive, indicating that during periods of lower growth, migrant inflows are associated with ... slower [dole] claimant growth than would otherwise have occurred.' The researchers did concede that the stimulating effects of migration on the overall labour market at a time of recession are likely to be small. It follows claims made yesterday by immigration pressure group MigrationWatch that rising immigration from Eastern and Central Europe since European Union enlargement in 2004 had contributed to a surge in youth unemployment in Britain, which is now above one million.

Migrants are 'pushing up house prices'

The Mac report also showed that house prices and rents are being pushed up by the number of migrants coming to the UK.

Migrants will add 8 per cent to the demand for housing, which ultimately leads to an increase in housing costs, especially in London, the south and certain parts of Scotland, it found.

The report added that migrants will inevitably contribute to the demand for public services, commit crime and generate congestion in the same way any increase in the UK-born population would.

Estimates showed migrants cost schools £2,216 per person per year, a third more than the £1,662 cost for non-migrants, perhaps because migrants tend to be both young and fertile, the Mac said.

But health services for migrants were likely to cost £2,450 per person per year, compared with £2,765 for non-migrants, possibly because migrants tend to be young and healthy.

The report also showed that more than 70 per cent of households headed by skilled migrant workers initially rented, with only 20 per cent owning and living in their own home, compared with 68 per cent of all households in England.

The Mac added that non-EU migrants were more likely to live in larger metropolitan areas than the average UK national, due to greater employment opportunities and more developed transport systems.

It also revealed that migrants were likely to make use of public transport, walking, car-sharing or cycling rather than driving in the years immediately following their arrival in the UK.

Migrants have a negative impact on the UK road system through the use of their cars, although it is not as great as the impact made by the average UK-born individual as they tend to make less non-work journeys.

But crime rates were likely to go down as a result of migration because migrants were less likely to commit crime, the report said.