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Greater job insecurity and barriers to resident professionals who want to move up the value chain will become a reality if the UK works permit system is not more tightly controlled, especially in IT. Such is the verdict from Amicus, the private sector union, which is urging ministers to ensure the scheme is not offering short-term IT jobs at the expense of “resident UK professionals.” The biggest private sector union wants a more rigorous approach to the scheme to be considered, so an onus is placed on UK plc to prove skills it needs cannot be found in the UK. Its national officer for IT Peter Skyte, yesterday said it was right for companies to source foreign expertise, but warned hirers should not neglect long term investment in the UK labour market. “The dangers are that if the work permits system does not provide the right balance between the needs of the existing and potential resident labour force and the desire by companies to import required skills, then this will damage the IT sector,” the union stated. Amicus will be writing to Home Office ministers looking to seek assurances that short-term savings by hiring cheap workers from abroad do not supersede skills development in the UK. If they do, pathways into highly skilled IT jobs will be destroyed, salaries will decline, UK students on computer science courses will become less noticeable and grass roots IT innovation will be undermined. Already “there is evidence” that an influx of short-term workers from abroad is disturbing the job opportunities open to UK professionals, especially those in IT, the union added. In line with Contractor UK’s figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Amicus said 30,000 IT permits were issued in the last year – climbing from just 1,800 in 1995. Between 2001 and 2004, some 110,000 work permits were issued in total for IT occupations, representing no less than 20 per cent of the total work permits issued for all occupations, despite the fact that IT occupations represent only 3.5 per cent of the workforce. It said however it remains “questionable” why there has been such a steep increase in the number of permits granted, in light of the number of people employed in UK IT falling for four years in a row. The Tier 1 application had experienced “extensive use,” Amicus said, pointing to a high volume of foreign ICT workers being brought over to the UK - ‘in-sourced’ - from a company’s overseas empire. Pay data also reveals that two-thirds of IT work permit holders are paid less than the equivalent of £30,000 a year, with managers and software engineers the likeliest to be undervalued. Given that the average salary of an IT professional is £32,500 in the UK, on the face of it the majority of IT work permit holders would appear to be undercutting the industry average salary. “The figures show a huge increase in companies sponsoring work permits to bring in IT workers in particular,” Amicus said in a statement. “The question needs to be asked whether the skills represented in these figures are bringing in non-resident work permit holders at below going rates in the UK and what effect this will have on foreign direct investment and the future of the IT sector.” Aug 3, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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