A major debate is ensuing on the impact of migration on the number of unemployed right now between the Government’s official advisers and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).
The NIESR stated: “The results show a very small negative and generally insignificant correlation between the migrant inflow rate and the change in the claimant count rate. For all practical purposes, these results suggest that migration has essentially no impact on claimant count unemployment.”
As the Government said that it was working to reduce net migration, Immigration Minister Damian Green added: “This Government is working to reduce net migration from the hundreds of thousands a year we saw under the last Government, to the tens of thousands we saw in the 1990s. Controlled immigration can bring benefits to the UK, but uncontrolled immigration can put pressure on public services, on infrastructure and on community relations.”
Although National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said clearly there was “no association” between migration and the numbers of people claiming unemployment benefits, Migration Watch (MW) UK, which campaigns for tighter immigration controls, welcomed the report by saying “The committee has had the courage to say straight out that immigration can add to unemployment, especially during a recession.”
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has now turned the debate around but in doing so have also further undermined MW’s report. The MAC report is an Impact Assessment of immigration on public services, housing, crime, transport, congestion, employment and other issues. There are repeated caveats and warnings and explanations of assumptions the report makes. It does conclude that 23 jobs for native workers were lost for every 100 migrants introduced to the labour market in the UK. In itself this undermines the MW statements in the right wing press by showing how much difference there is between immigration and unemployment. MW ignore the fact that during periods of economic slowdown there is this impact and as the figures fail to take account of UK citizens ( those that are economic active) as opposed to their count that only includes those born in the UK. This gives a false picture as those working at the heart of the UK economy – London and South East more than 35% were born outside the UK and are UK citizens.
The defening silence of the moderate voices in the British is only too obvious to note. There is virtually no one making the case for the economic merits and benefits of migration for the UK; the demographic time bomb that awaits the fate of economic slowdown fortress Europe. The signs are all there to see as the economic powerhouse is running away in the East ((India, China) with the emerging new ecomonies. We can’t have the Prime Minsiter on one level taking record number of business men on trade missions to countries like Turkey and India and then have his domestic agenda attack dogs doing a demoltion job on migration. The two contradictory approaches are not going to deliver prosperity for the people in the UK and will lead to further polarisation of established minority communities and add even more fuel to the fire of intolerance and xenophobia.
The choice for the politicians and for most parts of the UK media is clear. It is now time for you to come clean and face the British public and lead an honest debate.
Copyright Semra Eren Nijhar – All rights reserved
Semra Eren-Nijhar 