UK jobs boosted by EU migrant workers as businesses increase apprenticeships
Immigrants from Europe are not undercutting the wages of young people in the UK, but may actually be increasing their chances of getting a job, according to a report released today.
The research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development also found that firms employing migrants often had more internship and apprenticeship opportunities, which benefit the young.
Drawing on a survey of 1,000 employers, the report also finds that firms employing EU migrant workers are more likely to report that their business has been growing over the last two years (51 per cent) than organisations that don’t employ migrants (39 per cent).
Further research published in the Royal Economic Society’s Economic Journal yesterday claims that immigration is beneficial for low skilled natives as immigrants create more jobs than they take.
According to the study of the 1990s, “Less educated workers experienced particularly large wage and employment gains in countries where the immigration system favours educated immigrants, such as Australia and Canada. But in Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the UK, less educated natives also gained because of immigrants, raising their wages by 2-5 per cent.”