Recruitment firm boss calls for relaxation of UK immigration policy
March 30 2010 by Liam Clifford
The Chief Executive of one the UK’s leading recruitment consultancies has spoken out against the “let’s cut UK immigration from non-EU countries” mindset and has urged the UK immigration officials to make more UK work visas available to skilled migrants.
Alistair Cox of Hays spoke at
the launch of Hays’ Manifesto for Employment in London yesterday about the
skills shortages faced by UK employers as they attempt to survive the economic
downturn.
Mr. Cox expressed particular concern that not enough UK work
visas were being supplied to medical professionals, citing his own firm’s
difficulty in trying to fill thousands of NHS vacancies in the South East.
He also said that approximately 775,000 jobs requiring engineering,
science and maths skills were expected to be created in the first half of the
decade - providing huge opportunities for skilled foreigners to come and work in
the UK - providing enough UK work visas are available.
The number of UK
graduates with the necessary skills to fill those roles, according to Mr. Cox,
was likely to be only about 160,000 over the relevant period. “The economy is
going to be held back because there is such an acute shortage in this area. We
have to be able to tap into the global market place for skills,” he said.
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