In addition to the most popular stories such as the growing disappointment with Brown and the continuing turmoil of Northern Rock, there is, surprisingly, (since the above topics seem to be the only things any newspaper talks about) other news in the UK which is of interest. One particular article in today's Guardian caught my attention. This article discusses a study that revealed that migrant workers within the UK are more skilled, reliable and hardworking than their British co-workers and are fueling the country's economic growth.
Title of Article: Migrants are a boon to UK economy, says study
Date: 10/17/07
An official study published just yesterday reported that migrant workers within the UK are fueling the country's economic growth by about £6 billion a year. Along with this finding the study also reported that these migrants, usually of Polish or other eastern European descent, are more hardworking and reliable than British workers. No discernable impact on unemployment and only a "modest dampening of wage growth" for British workers on the lower rungs of the income ladder has occurred as well. With the emergence of these findings, a forum is scheduled to meet today to discuss the findings and decide whether or not the restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian migrants into Britian should be lifted.
Despite the advantages of migrant workers, some problems have indeed risen becuase of the massive influx of foreigners. (The net amount of migrants within Britian for this year is around 189,000; this number is down 28% when compared to last years figure which was around 262,000.) Due to migration, seven out of eight regions in England have reported pressure with housing situations and five out of eight regions have reported problems with crime and education. David Davis, the shadow home secretary, also made the comment that Labor ministers are ignoring the fact that relying on immigration to boost the economy is only a short-term answer.
Even with these major problems, the significant advantages of migrants in the UK are speculated to outweigh the disadvantages caused by their immigration. Immigration minister Liam Byrne insists that Britian is better off with the migrants than without them as displayed by their diligence and aid in stimulating Britain's economic growth. In attempts to deal with the disadvantages, however, Byrne suggested that Britain needs to have a "new balance" in immigration policy so that communities without a history of taking in large amounts of people can better deal with the migrants moving into them.
I chose to discuss this article becuase I have a personal connection to it. Back in the States, my family employs many migrants, particularly Hispanics, to work on our orchards. With this, I whole-heartedly agree with the study in that these workers are extremely hard working and diligent; they may not be as reliable as their American co-workers (I believe the only American workers on our orchards are my uncles and my cousins, and maybe a few others that I am unsure of), but they still are a very important part of my family's business operation and success. I can totally see how it has been determined that they are the main constituents in the UK's economic growth, and I can only assume that they play a major part in the growth of the US economy as well. Many British workers (and American workers as well) are fighting to keep migrants out of the country with complaints that migrants take their jobs away from them and create more problems than benefits, but what these "native" workers need to realize is that migrants are helping to boost the economy so that British people can enjoy the lifestyles that they do (and take for granted). Yes, some migrant workers do end up replacing British workers, but that is only because they are more qualified for the position. If another British worker was more qualified, the same situation would happen. The article also stated that migrants on average earn more and so pay more tax than UK workers, so I really do not understand why so many British people are so adamant about getting rid of immigrants. I do think that there needs to be a balance in immigration policy so that the problems can be solved, but I definitely do not think that all immigrants should be forced to leave Britain. As Liam Byrne said, the British economy is better off with the migrants than without them.
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