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| CURRENT SECTION :: News | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
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A record number of migrant workers will enter Britain in the next four years to give the nation’s transport, telecoms and IT industries a boost of £16.2 billion. The three sectors will be the second biggest beneficiary of the influx of skilled migrants, who, by 2012, will account for 2.8% of the workforce and contribute £77bn to the economy. The number of migrants in the software workforce has already leapt in the last seven years by 26,000, of whom the majority came from India to take Web and application development jobs. Looking ahead until 2012, a further 19,000 such roles will need to be filled by migrants, as part of the 212,000 new arrivals expected by the end of this year, up from 100,000 in 1997. To date, the number of skilled migrants joining the UK has more than doubled over the past ten years, rapidly between 1997 and 2000, before declining after the dot com crash in 2001. Over the next four years, however, the influx will rise by 14%, meaning 812,000 skilled migrants will join the UK workforce, representing an increase of 97,000 on today’s level. The figures, compiled in a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, will reinforce fears from some quarters that domestic employers are bypassing the UK workforce. These groups argue that not only do employers appear to be flouting their obligations under UK law, but that they are also relying on a non-sustainable route to fill their ranks. The authors of yesterday’s report, commissioned by ICT recruiter Harvey Nash, confirmed it may be short-sighted to rely on overseas labour pools. “The growth of e-commerce will require an ever increasing number of IT professionals. These employees will primarily be sourced from India,” the authors wrote. “However, as India has a rapidly growing economy and with the onset of outsourcing these professional may become harder to attract.” But as long as employers take certain steps, the sum total of skilled migrants’ contribution to the UK should not be in doubt, according to Albert Ellis, chief executive of Harvey Nash. “Skills are critical to the UK economy, but critically lacking in our current workforce. “Far from undermining the UK labour market, migration is vital to future economic stability, helping to fill in the gaps created by older and under-skilled workforces and make an important economic contribution,” he said. “Businesses need to embrace skilled migration, recruit from wider social groups, as well as offer flexible and rewarding working practices for home-grown talent, in order to safeguard their long term and global competitiveness.” Explaining why tech jobs are only second to the government, health and education industries in terms of attracting migrants, the report pointed to the mass adoption of computing and internet facilities. Its authors explained: “Again the domestic market [in the UK] could not meet these needs and therefore the population of highly skilled international software professionals has jumped by over 26,000 in the past seven years. “These software professional have predominantly arrived from India which has a large number of graduates studying information technology.” They added that while the number of incoming highly skilled migrants is due “to peak in 2008 at 212,000”, the number is expected to fall back to 2004 levels by 2012 “as the political and economic climate changes.” “The reduction in annual highly skilled migrant numbers will be the result of rapid economic growth in the traditional origins of highly skilled migrants and in other European countries. “The 2004 accession member states are currently experiencing a period of rapid, ‘catch‐up’ growth which is improving wage rates and living standards within these countries.” The authors predicted that the result of accession states developing their economies will be “less of an incentive” to move to the UK as a “way of finding improved employment.” Mar 26, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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