>> I think you missed the group of poorer citizens who felt that foreign labour was
>> driving down wages and limiting access to jobs.
I didn't miss those ones that "felt" that way. However, perhaps they had a point?
If one considers ONS & HMRC figures from 2016 it would appear to be a lot of noise about not very much. There are more workers, but there is also more work.
Whilst Brexit may reduce EU citizens coming here, it is likely to be as much a loss of trade and investment and is it is controlled immigration. Something that is likely to harm the Brits more than the Foreigners. If unemployment rises then EU Immigrants can return to other EU countries to work. UK Nationals cannot.
Unemployment has been falling for the last 6 years from a miserable 85 in 2012 to 4% in 2018. It is now lower than at anytime since 1975.
Not too much signs of the hoards of poor British workers desperately seeking employment then. My limited recent experience around the Oxfordshire/Berkshire area suggests that anybody who wants a job as got one, and the resources left are not great.
Before you leap on your band wagon and tell me how much worse it is in the frozen North or elsewhere, read this.....
www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/regionallabourmarket/august2018
Here are some more headline figures for you to consider. They're from the ONS & HMRC from 2015 & 2016, with a couple more uptodate. I have not interpreted them. However, some of them are calculated or estimated by the ONS rather than measured or counted.
EU Citizens account for 6.8% of the UK workforce. Up from 2.6% in 2006.
In the period 2013-2016 700k additional EU workers began work in the UK. In the same time period 1m UK workers started in additional roles. The implication being that new jobs were being created rather than existing jobs being used up by someone else.
Our workforce in 2016 was 28 Million Brits and million Foreign Nationals. Bear in mind that non-EU nationals already have to justify their entrance into the UK and will in any case be unaffected by Brexit.
In the time period 2012 - 2016 EU Citizens paid £2.55 billion more in Income Tax and NI than they received in tax credits or child benefit.
The Office of Budget Responsibility stated that in 2016 the labour contribution from EU Nationals was causing an additional 06.% per year growth in the UK Economy.
The most negative view of the impact on wages suggests that perhaps immigration has had a minor impact in areas such as shops, bars and restaurants, and strangely care workers. This is estimated at less than 1% over the period 2008 - 2016
In 2016 there were 224,000 additional EU workers in the UK. 131,000 of whom were from France, Italy and Spain.
The total number of people from Eastern Europe has remained stable at around 900,000. These days there is a smaller and decreasing gap in disposable income between Poland and the UK which is relevant.
The number of Non-EU foreign workers in 2016 was 1,200,000. This has been stable for years an dis in any case already controlled and unaffected by Brexit.
In 2015 1.2 million Brits lived in other EU countries.
In 2016 155,000 Brits were performing short-term or casual jobs abroad. 101,000 foreign nationals were doing the same in the UK.
The BBC take a view which at least includes data....
www.bbc.com/news/uk-44846002
In 2017 net migration from the EU was 101,000 EU Nationals and 227,000 Non-EU Nationals. A balance that is likely to get more pronounced as less EU citizens come here. Don't forget, the rules will not change for Non-EU.
But then, you have the view from the print media. Jeesus, it is no wonder.
The Sun 2016
www.thesun.co.uk/news/1671087/almost-130000-migrants-have-come-to-britain-in-search-of-a-job-in-the-past-year-bombshell-immigration-figures-reveal/
The Sun 2017
www.thesun.co.uk/news/2876121/brits-are-suffering-from-immigrants-taking-their-jobs-for-half-the-price-we-need-an-immigration-deal-that-works-for-everyone-not-just-bosses-who-want-cut-price-labour/
And now 2018 as The Sun turns its attention to non-EU Migration as it maintains its fine standards of journalistic integrity. suggesting it knows exactly who it needs to appeal to…
www.thesun.co.uk/news/7139869/cabinet-plot-non-eu-immigration-claims/
|
