Is Immigration Really All That Bad?

This week, figures released show that there was a big increase in net migration. The numbers grew to 212,000, meaning that after the number of emigrants (people who leave the country) is subtracted from the number of immigrants (people who enter the country), the UK now has 212,000 fresh foreigners roaming it's streets.  This is a damaging blow to the Conservatives target of reducing net migration to under 100,000. The number is now double that.

There is a split view on immigrants, most of whom are from other EU countries,  mostly from Eastern Europe. Are they a burden, which taxpayers are supporting? Or are they hard workers, who pay their taxes and add to our economy?

The facts are that immigration will add close to 7 million to our population, making England the most crowded country in Europe and 4th most crowded major country in terms of people per square km. In 2007, 1 in 3 London residents were born outside of the UK,  with 1 in 9 of the total population born overseas. There are currently 4.2 million households in the UK where English is not the primary language, however, compare this to the 0.3% who speak no or poor English, just 134,000, it paints a different picture. Pupils studying in London who didn't speak English as a primary language outperformed the national average at GCSE level.

Many people complain about the amount on immigrants who come over here, don't bother to learn our language, take all of the jobs available, then sponge of the British government for any benefits they are eligible for before sending most of it home to family.

But, as Jonathan Portes says, pretty much all the evidence about the impact of this decision is positive: the new migrants get jobs, contribute to the economy, pay taxes, don't use many public services, and don't take jobs from natives.  These migrants increase the work force, meaning there is a higher proportion of the population working. This means there is a higher rate of economically active people than dependant people (people who are under 19, over the ever increasing retirement age, or unemplosyed), meaning there are less people depending on the economically active to support them. 

Whilst there are more people to support and use the services provided, there is a greater demand for food and other necessities such as clothing. This means that there is a lot more people pumping money into the UK economy, and although a higher demand usually means higher prices, inflation fell last month to under the government set target of 2%. 

Migrants are taking the jobs that we refuse to do, such as fruit picking on farms and other poorly paid, laborious jobs. They are also taking the relatively lower skill jobs such as builders, plumbers and bus drivers. As immigration has again grown this past, year, so has employment, with unemployment rates diminishing over the last few years to just 7.2% now, that is 2.34  million. 

So going back to the original questions, immigrants do indeed support our economy. They are 45% less likely to receive benefits than natives, and boost our economy by increasing demand and also the amount of economically active people their are in the UK. 

Sources:

BBC News
Impacts of Immigration
Immigrants who Speak English