Heavy hand on immigration dominates British elections despite labor shortage

The tough line on immigration unites Labor and Conservatives ahead of the upcoming July 4 elections in the United Kingdomin a context of difficult access to the country for immigrants and in which the lack of labor is one of the problems facing the labor market.

According to the British employers’ association, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the lack of workers is one of the biggest challenges facing the country.

“A credible plan to address the shortage should include the activation of a series of policy mechanisms such as the removal of barriers to work (…) and a new approach to immigration“CBI Future Jobs and Skills head Matthew Percival said this week.

A context that is difficult to access

Percival spoke in this way after the publication of the latest labor market data, in the midst of a policy of closing the country to immigration marked by Brexit, when the United Kingdom left the European Union.

In April, the British Executive began increasing the minimum wage required to grant a work visa to foreigners up to 38,700 pounds per year gross (about 46,000 euros), which represents an increase of 48% compared to the previous figure, as indicated the Ministry of the Interior.

Regarding irregular immigration, the British Parliament, with a conservative majority, also approved in April the law that declares Rwanda as a “safe country” to deport asylum seekers who enter the United Kingdom illegally.

Opposite the perspective of the Conservatives is that of the Labor Party, whose leader, Keir Starmer, also plans to seek a reduction in the arrival of foreigners to the country, as he told the Sunday edition of the newspaper ‘The Sun’.

“If you trust me with the keys to number 10 [de Downing Street] I will make you this promise: I will control our borders and make sure we help UK businesses hire Brits first,” said Starmer, who would, however, scrap the Rwanda plan.

One in seven employees, foreigners

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that one in seven employees in the country were of a nationality other than British in the first quarter of 2024.

According to the institution, which has published these employment data quarterly since 1997, this type of worker has increased by 47% in the country in the last ten years, going from 9.18% of the workforce in the first quarter of 2014 to 13.49% in the same period this year.

This percentage is divided more or less equally between those who come from European Union countries (6.35% of the total employees in the United Kingdom) and those who come from outside the community territory (7.14%).

In the last year, while the number of British workers hired fell by 433,000, the most jobs were created by foreign workers, who added 201,000 new hires.

Despite everything, the final balance was negative, with 232,000 fewer jobs in the country.

Concentration in sectors

Further data on UK employment patterns, published in June using 2022 data collected by the Oxford University Migration Observatory, shows that migrants born outside the UK – while including those who may currently hold British nationality – are over-represented in some sectors.

Thus, one in four of workers in the hospitality, transport and telecommunications sectors were born in a foreign country.

Furthermore, the analysis concluded that overqualification – people employed with a higher level of education than the job requires – is more common among those born outside the United Kingdom than among people born in the country, something that especially affects those from the United Kingdom. South of Asia.

Although this observatory noted that the migration balance was positive in 2023 – 685,000 more people arrived than left the territory – it predicted that the changes in visas will lead to an upcoming reduction in immigration, while the departure of students also increases. international.