UK’s fears of immigrants displacing local workers unfounded, says study

Assertions being made by critics of immigrants that foreign workers are putting British-born citizens out of jobs are unfounded, according to the International Longevity Centre (ILC), an independent think-tank, which deals with the issues of ageing and population change.

The report, in fact, shows that areas having larger proportions of employed migrants also have a larger proportion of native Britons in the labour force.

As the run-up to EU referendum draws closer, ILC feels immigration would help the UK in addressing the ageing population issue. The think-tank feels that as the number of migrants in the workforce rises, jobs opportunities would also increase.

ILC debunks the myth that people born in the UK as well as migrants competed for the same kind of jobs. The idea that the number of jobs in the UK was limited did not hold water, it stated. ILC also said that, more often than not, it was immigrants who were in the working age group than British citizens.

Financial Times quoted ILC as saying that limiting migration could cost the British exchequer £625 billion, or 11.4 percent of its GDP, by 2064-65.

Dean Hochlaf and Ben Franklin, ILC report authors, said that regardless of whether the UK stays on in the EU, migrants would continue to play a major part in the future of UK’s workforce.

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