Foreign workers take bulk of new jobs

The overwhelming majority of roles created in Britain's private sector since Labour came to power were filled by workers born abroad, new figures show.



Of the 1.8m new jobs in the sector since 1997 just 15 per cent went to Britons, according to the figures, released by the cross party group on balanced immigration.



The figures also show that there were 90,000 fewer Britons working for the private sector in the first quarter of 2009 than there was in the same quarter twelve years ago.



"These figures tell a simple story: in the private sector it has been British jobs for foreign workers," said the group's co-chairmen Frank Field MP and Nicholas Soames MP.



But the story is different in the public sector, where British-born workers have snapped up almost three quarters of the 1.1million jobs created since Labour took over.



The MPs reflected: "The private sector should now match the public sector in ensuring local people have the first chance at gaining local jobs."



Meanwhile, the number of employers prosecuted for taking on illegal immigrants has leapt five-fold since a new penalty system was introduced in February this year.



Prior to the new legislation, just 40 cases were brought against employers compared with 223 today, said Giant Precision, which obtained the data using Freedom of Information rules.



"The new regulations are tough on employers and recruiters who may have checked into candidate's backgrounds and been duped by fraudulent documents," said the firm's director Matthew Brown.



"Even if checks are carried out, the UK Border Agency can still levy fines if it deems recruiters and employers have not been sufficiently rigorous."