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Economic Effects of Immigration in the Uk Essay

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Economic Effects of Immigration in the UK

Within the past ten years, immigration has tripled in the UK. The rising trend of immigration has led to a strongly negative perception towards foreigners within the British population. Economists have a more modest opinion on immigration; the economic impact of immigration seems crucial, but it would seem that it in fact only has a small effect on the domestic labor market. Furthermore, the Home Office has indirectly conceded that they have lost the general compendium over the number of incoming immigrants, creating objectives to manage immigration to the benefit of the UK. Firstly, an assessment of the immigration statistics will be made, giving an overview of the accrued immigrants as of …show more content…

Evidence from the Workers Registration Scheme (WRS) suggests that 82% of the immigrants are aged 18-34 and almost half of them (44%) are aged 18-24. The recent increase of unemployment in Great Britain has been within these younger age groups, which might suggest a possible link with A8 immigration. Taking a closer look at the British economic situation; other factors may also have contributed to these recent trends within the labor market. An increased number of older workers were registered due to lower projected pensions and anti-age-discrimination legislation.1 The modest downturn of the economy in 2005 might also have had some ramification. John Hawksworth, macroeconomist at PWC, considers increased immigration in the UK labor market to be essential in propping up the world's fourth largest industrial economy since the UK population is ageing. His research suggests that immigrants positively contribute to the British pension crisis, especially as the 1945 baby boom state pension age was reached in 2006. Secondly, there is a current shortage of highly skilled workers in key sectors, such as IT. Thirdly, the British population is becoming more highly skilled and people are enjoying a better level of education. Therefore many British citizens might dismiss certain jobs, such as unskilled jobs workings. Economists believe that even if

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