UK immigration workers to stay during recession

July 08 2009 by Mark Johnstone

Professor John Salt on UK immigration

A leading UK immigration expert has said that he expects the UK's overseas workforce to stay in Britiain and weather the economic downturn.

Professor John Salt, from University College London, said that the UK immigrant population in Britain will not shrink during the recession.

He said the country had experienced similar conditions in the 1960s and 1970s, when UK immigration figures decreased due to economic downturns.

Salt said: "If the pattern of the past is repeated then immigration into the UK might well decline rather less than a lot of people anticipate."
In a report co-written for the Policy Network, a centre-left think tank, he added: "The evidence we have been able to gather on past recessions in the UK and more widely in western Europe indicates that foreign immigration falls while unemployment is increasing but only for a limited period."

In 2004, Prof Salt was commissioned by the Home Office to draw up estimates of the number of illegal immigrants living in Britain, and produced a figure of 450,000 to 500,000.

The head of University College London's Migration Research Unit, Prof Salt's advice on UK immigration is frequently sought by the United Nations, the European Commission and various Government departments.

His latest warning came as Phil Woolas, the UK immigration minister, announced he may add an ethical aspect to the new points based system to help minimise the impact of the UK draining away high calibre workers from other countries.

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