MIGRATION AND ITS IMPACT ON LABOR MARKET OF UK
Migration and Its Impact on Labor Market of UK
Migration refers to the movement of an individual or groups of individuals from their places of origin to another place. The movement of folks from one country to another is called international migration. People leaving the country are emigrants while for the country they move in, they are immigrants. In many cases, people within a country move from one place to another, particularly from the rural to the urban areas and this is also a migration referred as rural to urban migration. Asylum seekers form another type of migrants who flee their own places due to war, terrorism, or such other violent activities. The migration usually takes place due to what we call push factors and pull factors. The push factors are characterized by the poor economic state of the country or place such as few jobs, famine, war, or the likes from where people want to emigrate. The pull factors include better health care, job opportunities, education, safety and so forth at the place people want to migrate (BBC, 2014).The migration may be voluntary or forced. In 1948, as many as 942 people of Jamaica reached London via the sea in search of better opportunities and starting a new life in the U.K., and it is an example of voluntary migration. On the other hand, in 1972, the then President of Uganda, Idi Amin expelled the entire Asian population of the country, and most of them migrated to the United Kingdom, which is a case of forced migration. This essay evaluates the causes and impact of immigration within the European Union with specific reference to the labor market in the UK.
The migration to affluent and developed countries has been the trend worldwide, and it gained momentum after the formation of the European Union as citizens of comparatively less affluent nations gained the right to migrate to other developed nations of the Union for better economic prospects and social life. Great Britain was affected the most by immigration from the member countries. With more countries joining the European Union such as Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic in 2004, a large number of people migrated particularly to Britain due to its booming economy at that juncture. However, with worsening economic situation in Britain many immigrants left for their own places (BBC, 2014).
There are some advantages and disadvantages of immigration in general. The country from where people migrate loses in number, but the burden on its resources reduces. The loss is in terms of Brain Drain, also. On the other hand, the recipient country is overcrowded, resources strained, and opportunities for the native people reduced. However, it gets an additional workforce that may be skilled and educated suited to its economy. The U.K., which has been the largest recipient of migrants since the formation of the European Union from the member countries has withstood the test of time, and the impact on its labour market has not yet been evidenced as negative (BBC, 2014).
As for the effect of Immigration on the U.K. labor market, the immigrants’ share among working age adults has more than doubled from 8% to 17% between 1995 and 2014 in the U.K. Immigrants, especially from the EU15 countries, being younger and better educated than their U.K. born counterparts, they are over-represented in the very high skilled and very low skilled categories. However, immigrants do not usurp majority of new jobs. No negative impact of immigration in the U.K. has yet been established especially on wages, jobs, housing, and crowding of public services (Wadsworth, 2015).
As per the theoretical analysis of the effects of immigration on the labor market, Dustmann, Fabbri, & Preston, (2005) analyzed the effects based on the changes in the supply of skills, and the changes arising out in the labor market equilibrium. The results of researches carried out show little evidence of adverse effects of immigration, particularly on native outcomes. However, if there are some negative effects, it is for people having education up to intermediate level, but it is amply offset by positive effects on employment in case of better qualified ones (Dustmann et al., 2005) As per the predictions of economic models, immigration’s labour market effects depend primarily on the economic structure of the economy of the receiving country, and the skill mix of the immigrant people in relation to the native citizens. In the U.K., the immigrants are similar in their education as well as in skill distribution to the native population. The data of the British Labour Force Survey labour market suggest that employment is more and better for males and better educated having an average employment rate of around 77%. Participation and unemployment vary in the same manner in all education groups. Those who are better educated have a stronger attachment to the labor market, and also lower rates of unemployment. The majority of immigrants being moderately educated grab the jobs that are low paid. They might outnumber the natives, but when it comes to the highly paid jobs for better educated they lag behind, and this restores the equilibrium of the labor market in the U.K. (Dustmann et al., 2005; Wadsworth, 2015).
In conclusion, immigrants, especially from the European Union countries are younger and better educated than their U.K. born counterparts, but there is little evidence of adverse effects of immigration particularly on the native of the UK. However, there are some negative effects for people having the intermediate level education or unskilled.
References
BBC. (2014). Cause and effects of migration. Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2016, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/geography/interdependence/population_migration/revision/6/
Dustmann, C., Fabbri, F., & Preston, I. (2005). The Impact of Immigration on the British Labour Market. Economic Journal, 115(507), F324-F341. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2005.01038.x
Wadsworth, J. (2015). Immigration and the UK Labour Market. Centre for Economic Performance. Retrieved from http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/ea019.pdf
