Migration Watch Response to ITEM Club Report on the “Benefits” of East European Immigration

---

May 11, 2006

A report out today by Migrationwatch suggests that the recent ITEM Club report on the "benefits of the new immigration" from Western Europe was far more negative than first realised. (Read Report) It pointed to the loss of 50,000 jobs by British workers by 2010 with virtually no benefit to the host community.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said that "this report made two extraordinary mistakes. It omitted entirely the question of dependants and it took no account of the way in which this immigration adds to our population. It is true that wage inflation and interest rates will be lower but, overall, the report found that unemployment would rise by 50,000. Most of those who lose their jobs will be British workers who, as the report remarked, find it more difficult to find another job. What is more, the addition to production is counter-balanced by the extra population so that in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head there is no significant benefit to British people. Cheap labour is good for employers and the middle classes but we must also be clear about the impact on our economy as a whole and, especially, on the low paid"