{"id":160,"date":"2012-10-29T09:48:07","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T09:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/"},"modified":"2012-10-29T09:48:07","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T09:48:07","slug":"imm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Sir Andrew Green, Chairman, Migration Watch UK<\/p>\n<p>The immigration lobby are getting<br \/>\ndesperately short of arguments to set against the huge costs of mass<br \/>\nimmigration.&#0160; The first body blow was a<br \/>\nHouse of Lords report which \u201cfound no evidence\u2026\u2026 that net migration generates<br \/>\nsignificant economic benefits for the existing UK population.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publications.parliament.uk\/pa\/ld200708\/ldselect\/ldeconaf\/82\/82.pdf\">(See<br \/>\nabstract here)<\/a>.&#0160; This was followed by<br \/>\na report from the government\u2019s own Migration Advisory Committee which pointed<br \/>\nout that much of any benefit goes to the immigrants themselves. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk\/sitecontent\/documents\/aboutus\/workingwithus\/mac\/27-analysis-migration\/01-analysis-report\/analysis-of-the-impacts?view=Binary\">(See<br \/>\nParagraphs 3.6-3.13 here)<\/a>.&#0160; Then a<br \/>\nstudy by the NIESR found that the contribution of the much vaunted East<br \/>\nEuropean migrants to GDP per head was expected to be \u201cnegligible\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.niesr.ac.uk\/pdf\/270411_143310.pdf\">(See Exec Summary here)<\/a>,<br \/>\nindeed negative in the long run.<\/p>\n<p>So their latest ploy is to claim that<br \/>\nimmigration control is a barrier to the vital task of economic recovery.&#0160;&#0160; You only have to glance at the facts to see<br \/>\nthat this also collapses.&#0160; There is no<br \/>\nlimit on senior staff transfers between international companies nor, of course,<br \/>\non any form of recruitment from the EEA &#8211; a pool of over 500 million people. &#0160;&#0160;Tier 1,<br \/>\nthe route for self-starters, was effectively closed after evidence that a<br \/>\nsignificant proportion ended up in unskilled roles such as shop assistants,<br \/>\nsecurity guards, and supermarket cashiers. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk\/sitecontent\/documents\/aboutus\/statistics\/pbs-tier-1\/pbs-tier-1.pdf?view=Binary\">(See<br \/>\nhere)<\/a> Tier 2, for skilled workers sponsored by employers, was capped at<br \/>\n20,700 a year but in its first year, only about half that quota has been taken<br \/>\nup. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk\/business-sponsors\/points\/sponsoringmigrants\/employingmigrants\/apply-for-restricted-cos\/allocations\/\">(See<br \/>\nhere)<\/a> How is that for a killer blow? &#0160;Meanwhile, improved routes have been<br \/>\nintroduced for entrepreneurs and investors. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk\/visas-immigration\/working\/tier1\/\">(See<br \/>\nhere)<\/a>&#0160; Given all this, it is hard to<br \/>\nbelieve that some are questioning whether Britain is \u201copen for business\u201d \u2013<br \/>\nespecially when we receive one and a half million business visitors a<br \/>\nyear.&#0160;&#0160; Someone must be doing some<br \/>\nbusiness!<\/p>\n<p>Nor<br \/>\nshould employers be our only concern.&#0160; Since<br \/>\n2000, the British labour market has expanded by just over 2 million, virtually<br \/>\nall of whom were foreign born. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ons.gov.uk\/ons\/rel\/lms\/labour-market-statistics\/september-2012\/table-emp05.xls\">(See<br \/>\nhere)<\/a> Whatever the technical arguments, it is clear that, over the boom<br \/>\nperiod up to 2008, British workers were not drawn into the active labour market<br \/>\nas would have been desirable.&#0160; Obviously,<br \/>\nimmigration is not the only factor. There are issues of motivation, welfare<br \/>\nprovision, education and training but it does seem clear that, if employers are<br \/>\nentirely free to bring in cheap, flexible and non-unionised labour, they are<br \/>\nlikely to do so \u2013 especially if they are tied to them by the work permit<br \/>\nsystem.&#0160; For wider social reasons it is<br \/>\nimportant that there should be some countervailing pressure on employers to<br \/>\ntrain and employ British workers.&#0160; Two<br \/>\nand a half million people unemployed is more than enough.<\/p>\n<p>Those<br \/>\nwho are protesting the loudest should be clear about the kind of immigration<br \/>\npolicy that they advocate.&#0160; If they want<br \/>\na virtually open door they should say so and say how they would address the<br \/>\nconsequences.&#0160; Immigration at current<br \/>\nlevels will add five million to the UK population in the next fifteen<br \/>\nyears.&#0160; To accommodate the extra numbers<br \/>\nwe would have to build the equivalent of eight major cities \u2013 Birmingham,<br \/>\nLeeds, Glasgow, Sheffield, Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol.&#0160;&#0160; We already have a major housing crisis to<br \/>\nsay nothing of an empty exchequer.&#0160;&#0160; Need<br \/>\nI say more?<\/p>\n<p>&#0160;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sir Andrew Green, Chairman, Migration Watch UK The immigration lobby are getting desperately short of arguments to set against the huge costs of mass immigration.&#0160; The first body blow was a House of Lords report which \u201cfound no evidence\u2026\u2026 that net migration generates significant economic benefits for the existing UK population.\u201d (See abstract here).&#0160; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,13,24,8,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-employment","category-migration-advisory-committee","category-office-for-national-statistics","category-visaswork-permits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise? - Migration Watch UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise? - Migration Watch UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sir Andrew Green, Chairman, Migration Watch UK The immigration lobby are getting desperately short of arguments to set against the huge costs of mass immigration.&#160; The first body blow was a House of Lords report which \u201cfound no evidence\u2026\u2026 that net migration generates significant economic benefits for the existing UK population.\u201d (See abstract here).&#160; [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Migration Watch UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Migration-Watch-UK-127266704046495\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-29T09:48:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Migration Watch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@migrationwatch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@migrationwatch\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/29\\\/imm\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/29\\\/imm\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Migration Watch\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7c048c54116a6d0b625ab0fa06af243b\"},\"headline\":\"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-29T09:48:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/29\\\/imm\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":550,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Economics\",\"Employment\",\"Migration Advisory Committee\",\"Office for National Statistics\",\"Visas\\\/Work Permits\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/29\\\/imm\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/29\\\/imm\\\/\",\"name\":\"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise? - Migration Watch UK\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-29T09:48:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/29\\\/imm\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/29\\\/imm\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/2012\\\/10\\\/29\\\/imm\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Migration Watch UK\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Migration Watch UK\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/mw-logo-2019.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/mw-logo-2019.png\",\"width\":309,\"height\":125,\"caption\":\"Migration Watch UK\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/Migration-Watch-UK-127266704046495\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/migrationwatch\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7c048c54116a6d0b625ab0fa06af243b\",\"name\":\"Migration Watch\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\\\/news\\\/author\\\/mweditor\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise? - Migration Watch UK","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise? - Migration Watch UK","og_description":"By Sir Andrew Green, Chairman, Migration Watch UK The immigration lobby are getting desperately short of arguments to set against the huge costs of mass immigration.&#0160; The first body blow was a House of Lords report which \u201cfound no evidence\u2026\u2026 that net migration generates significant economic benefits for the existing UK population.\u201d (See abstract here).&#0160; [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/","og_site_name":"Migration Watch UK","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Migration-Watch-UK-127266704046495\/","article_published_time":"2012-10-29T09:48:07+00:00","author":"Migration Watch","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@migrationwatch","twitter_site":"@migrationwatch","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/"},"author":{"name":"Migration Watch","@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7c048c54116a6d0b625ab0fa06af243b"},"headline":"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise?","datePublished":"2012-10-29T09:48:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/"},"wordCount":550,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Economics","Employment","Migration Advisory Committee","Office for National Statistics","Visas\/Work Permits"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/","url":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/","name":"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise? - Migration Watch UK","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-29T09:48:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2012\/10\/29\/imm\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Immigration caps don\u2019t hamper the economic recovery. Why pretend otherwise?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/","name":"Migration Watch UK","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Migration Watch UK","url":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/mw-logo-2019.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/mw-logo-2019.png","width":309,"height":125,"caption":"Migration Watch UK"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Migration-Watch-UK-127266704046495\/","https:\/\/x.com\/migrationwatch"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/7c048c54116a6d0b625ab0fa06af243b","name":"Migration Watch","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/author\/mweditor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}