Migrant workers earn more than British workers

Migrant workers earn more than British

By Philip Johnston, Telegraph Home Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 2:49am BST 17/10/2007

Immigrant workers are both higher paid and more reliable than their
British counterparts and contributed £6 billion to economic growth
last year, a Government study said yesterday.

The Home Office report on migration (pdf).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2007/10/17/Economic_Fiscal_Impact_Immigration.pdf

The study estimated an economic contribution of £6 billion from
foreign workers in the UK

Migrants earned £424 a week on average, compared with £395 for UK
workers, and paid more in tax than they consumed in services.

However, a separate paper issued together with the study by the Home
Office admitted there were complaints about the impact of immigration
on housing and other public services. Liam Byrne, the immigration
minister, said the research showed that ''in the long run, our country
and Exchequer are better off with immigration rather than without it".

The report found that in 2006, record immigration pushed the number of
foreign workers up to 12.5 per cent ? or one eighth ? of the labour
force, compared to 7.4 per cent a decade ago.

Since average output growth over this period was 2.7 per cent a year
and migration contributed an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of this, the
study estimated a contribution of £6 billion from foreign workers ? or
£700,000 a day.
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However, the figure does not take account of the costs of a growing
population, for instance the impact on public services such as health,
education and transport. But the overwhelmingly positive findings were
last night challenged by academics.

Robert Rowthorn, an emeritus professor of economics at Cambridge
University, warned that as well as putting pressure on services,
large-scale migration would "undermine the labour market position of
the most vulnerable sections of the local workforce". The study, the
first official attempt to establish the economic and fiscal impact of
the record levels of immigration seen in recent years, states that
''in the long run, it is likely that the net fiscal contribution of an
immigrant will be greater than that of a non-immigrant".

It also claims there is no evidence of foreign workers pushing British
people out of jobs, although it presents no firm evidence for this.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: ''Labour are being
disingenuous again.

"They are equating the effect of migration on aggregate GDP with its
effect on GDP per head. They are also ignoring the fact that relying
on immigration to boost the economy is a short-term answer.

"What will they do for the million economically inactive under-25s in
the country?"

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