Is immigration good for the UK economy.

kabayiri

There is another angle to this immigration debate.

Who are the groups pushing/lobbying for the influx of cheaper labour, with hard work ethos. I would contend it is businesses, especially those where margins are tight (catering/leisure/fruit picking etc).

You can understand why they would argue this. But I fail to see how someone who works here on minimum wage and stays for a long time is a net contributor to the treasury. Even if there is a net positive gain, its unlikely to be a big return.

I would much rather encourage immigration of highly skilled talented people. If only 0.1% of these types turned into 10% of a Bill Gates type we would be laughing all the way to the bank.

nickj_2

whilst there are 2-3 million unemployed in this country , surely we should be concentrating on getting these people back to work before we add any more to the jobmarket

BleepinHell

bluey890 wrote: »

Building over green spaces. Pressure on existing infrastrucutre. Traffic jams / road traffic everywhere. No jobs for those that are here. The coutries (few) natural resources being spread over more people.

Is immigration to the UK good for the economy?

My view it is good for the economy but bad for the social cohesion of the UK. Having millions of third world immigrants will serve to keep wages down to levels where we can better compete with the other low wage economies of the world, china India etc.
The downside will be those points you mentioned, and our own low wage earners being being put out to grass. Crime and Family breakdown are innevitable. But they have no voice-no clout so who gives a ~~~~
Personally I question the wisdom of New Labours vision.
The new arrivals only seem to work {Be Exploited?} for a few years before sussing the benefit system, lots of kids, various identities etc.
Consequently we need to constantly replenish the slave labour supply.
But if its good for the Economy it must be good for the Country. Right?

capstain411

I am a proud foreign national educated and working in UK since last 10 years. Being a foreign national I had to pay appox £7500 ( privately funded) pounds every year just as university fees, while my british batch mates were paying 1/3rd of that. I would say my university needed me to subsidize local students education.

I have being working as pharmacist for past 7 years. I am 28 now. In all these years I have taken just 2 days off sick. I on average pay £1200 pounds every month as tax and NI contribution. I have never been to a doctor's surgery in UK. Never visited hospital as patient and never got on the wrong side of law.

As a matter of great pride, I was adjudged, as the one of the top 4 newly qualified pharmacist in the country. Chemist and druggist awards 2009. http://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/awardsshortlist

3 of the top 4 newly qualified pharmacist were immigrants.

I personally know around 45 medics in west midlands from India "immigrants" who are in similar position. I regularly send money back home due to better potential for growth.So does every "immigrant" whom I know, but hey it's nobody's business on what we do with our hard earned money.

I would say I have got tremendous potential. But back home due to competition, I would have never achieved what I have achieved in UK. I am grateful to this country for bringing the best out of me. But then my employers, my patient get the benefit of my good work, so not just monetarily but professionally I am serving this country.

My point here is rather than just slagging off immigration on whole, everybody should consider positive contributions made by people like me.

lostinrates

capstain411 wrote: »

Being a foreign national I had to pay appox £7500 ( privately funded) pounds every year just as university fees, while my british batch mates were paying 1/3rd of that. I would say my university needed me to subsidize local students education. .

wow, I thought it would be a lot more than that to be honest. Thinking, as a comparison of the costs of provision of learning, with independant school fees, £7.5 k seems, well, pretty reasonable.

mbga9pgf

My point here is rather than just slagging off immigration on whole, everybody should consider positive contributions made by people like me.

Noone has done. Lots to be said for stopping noncontributing wasters coming here whilst our state services are creaking at the seams.

julieq

nickj wrote: »

whilst there are 2-3 million unemployed in this country , surely we should be concentrating on getting these people back to work before we add any more to the jobmarket

No, not really. The people who are unemployed should be concentrating on getting themselves back to work. It's really not society's job to featherbed people into employment on their own terms, the unemployed have to become more employable, which means being as cost effective as anyone else in the market. Including immigrants.

There was another comment about English people not learning languages when other nationalities do. In fact most other nationalities learn English, which is a lingua franca, and possibly another language related to their own, for example Italians may speak Spanish and French, the Dutch may speak German. There is no reason in terms of business competitiveness to speak any language other than English, and in fact when a Spaniard talks to a German it will most likely be in English. I speak French fluently but I don't use it in my work ever. We don't learn foreign languages because there is no imperative to do so.

misskool

lostinrates wrote: »

wow, I thought it would be a lot more than that to be honest. Thinking, as a comparison of the costs of provision of learning, with independant school fees, £7.5 k seems, well, pretty reasonable.

7.5k is very small, not normal for a science degree (which is what pharmacy would have to be), unless it's at a new university where they have lower fees

My fees for a Russell Group university for undergraduate science degree was approximately £11k a year. Fees for an Oxbridge place for a science PhD are approx £13k a year.

It's not as much as a private school education in this country but that's the true cost of a university place to read science.

capstain411

lostinrates wrote: »

wow, I thought it would be a lot more than that to be honest. Thinking, as a comparison of the costs of provision of learning, with independant school fees, £7.5 k seems, well, pretty reasonable.

Yes I would agree £7.5 k (£30k over four years in 2002) was pretty reasonable. But then £30k helped me into a educational institution which ranked 109th in the times education ranking. To put it in retrospect it was paying Harrods price tag for a netto value baked beans.

But then students like me must have surely helped institutions with poor ranking to better themselves, when most of deserving local students would have never joined a low ranking university.

lostinrates

julieq wrote: »

There is no reason in terms of business competitiveness to speak any language other than English, and in fact when a Spaniard talks to a German it will most likely be in English. I speak French fluently but I don't use it in my work ever. We don't learn foreign languages because there is no imperative to do so.

wow, well, practically yes, but in terms of winning business and rapour, I disagree. In terms of intellectual development I also disagree. Incidently, DH always felt his Ancient Greek educatin was alovely waste of time: till he got Russian clients, having never learned Russian formally the Greek has given him tools he didn't know he'd acquired.

And, in keeping options open to travel ''well'' and live elsewhere, we're both glad to have had more than one language.

ET: and anther important factor, of understanding people: a key way for me is through the food and the language. Idioms often reveal something not just of the language bu the people who mde the language, even individual word usuage. e.g. when people in UK ask me why I think Berlusconi is not dragged through the streets I explaine the use of the Italian word ''furbo''. It explains more than all the recieved knowledge in English about media control and politcal power does IMO.