Advisory Committee says we still need foreigners to work in the UK
August 20 2009 by Mark Johnstone
Opportunities for work in UK
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report has concluded that despite rising unemployment in the UK, skilled migrants are still valuable to UK industry. The committee was asked by the government to report on the UK immigration system back in March.
The Committee report says that the number of skilled migrants allowed to move to the UK from outside the EU should be cut by 10%. This should be achieved by increasing education and earnings thresholds in the points-based system criteria, says the MAC report.
There should also be changes to the rules allowing intra-company transfer, in order to prevent firms from bringing in cheaper workers from abroad to replace UK workers.
Despite these modest changes, the MAC report rejects calls for much tougher criteria in the points-based system to drastically cut non-EU immigration in response to UK unemployment. The MAC’s chairman, Professor David Metcalf says the changes proposed are not a “knee-jerk reaction to the recession.” He added that the MAC would have made the recommendation regardless of the level of unemployment among UK citizens.
Metcalf concluded, "We believe that selective immigration that favours more skilled workers, as the points-based system does, is vital to ensure that the UK continues to be thought of a good place to do business, invest or study.”
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