Wide variations in migrant work statistics, report finds

Employment levels, wages and benefits vary widely between different groups of migrants in the UK, analysis suggests.

Research by MigrationWatch, which campaigns for tighter immigration controls, looked at employment status, wages and benefit claims.

Migrants from the US, Australia and South Africa were found to earn much more than the UK-born population.

By contrast, people from Pakistan and Bangladesh tended to earn much less, the research suggested.

The study used data from the official Labour Force Survey of 100,000 people.

It suggests:

• Migrants from Western Europe, India, South Africa and the "Anglosphere" countries - the US, Australia, New Zealand - have high rates of employment at good wages and low rates of benefit claims

• Migrants from Africa, apart from South Africa, have overall employment rates and wages on a par with those born in the UK, but much higher rates of benefit claims

• Migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh have lower rates of employment combined with lower wages and higher rates of benefit claims

• Migrants from Eastern European countries, including Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, have high rates of employment but lower wages and higher rates of benefit claims than those born in the UK

It also suggests that more migrants than UK-born people claim housing benefit, tax credits and child benefit.

However, claims for Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance differ little between migrants and UK-born people.

Migrant claims were noticeably lower for sickness and disability benefits and carers' allowances, the study suggests.

'Brightest and best'

MigrationWatch chairman, Lord Green of Deddington, said the analysis showed that the argument that all immigration to the UK was beneficial could not possibly be right.

He said any sensible policy should take account of the real differences in economic characteristics between migrants from different parts of the world.

"If immigration policy has been intended to attract only 'the brightest and the best' it has clearly failed, with a very large number of migrants earning less or claiming more than the British-born," he added.

"The clear message of this research is that immigration can be reduced substantially while permitting entry to those migrants that our economy really needs."

How migrants affect the UK economy?

The effect migrants have on a host economy depends on their skills, those of workers in the host country and other factors including rules relating to employment and wages.

British research tends to indicate that migrants have two impacts. Medium and high-paid workers gain, partly because they benefit from the cheaper services of the low-paid migrant workers. But the lowest paid resident workers can lose out in competition at the bottom.

Further data suggests that immigration from outside the EU could lead to more unemployment of UK workers during a recession - but these effects can change over time if migration leads to greater employment, productivity and business opportunities.

A recent study found the biggest losers could be existing migrants who find themselves in competition with newly arrived workers who have similar skills at a lower price.

Source: Oxford University's Migration Observatory

Neil Carberry, of business lobby group the CBI, said the evidence clearly showed the "vast majority" of migrants came to the UK to study or work, not to claim benefits.

The government was right to pursue a managed immigration policy, he told the BBC, but warned a one-size-fits-all approach that did not recognise different types of migration should be resisted and making assumptions based on migrants' home countries added little to the debate.

Right job

Don Flynn, director of charity Migrants' Rights Network, said the analysis appeared to be spun to suggest that migrants were more likely to receive benefits than UK-born people, and some migrants were poor performers.

But, he said, the overall position remained that migrants performed better than their cost to the taxpayer, and there was nothing in the study to challenge that.

He added the government should focus on making sure often highly-qualified migrants were employed in the right level of job, which would also mean they would not need in-work benefits.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said the government had "taken action to ensure we have a fair system which provides support for genuine workers and jobseekers but does not allow people to come to this country and take advantage".

"We have strengthened the rules to protect the benefits system," he said.

"To be entitled to benefits, such as jobseeker's allowance, child tax credits and child benefit, EU migrants now have to be in the country for three months, pass the strengthened Habitual Residence Test, and can then only claim benefits for three months unless they have a real chance of getting a job."

In May the prime minister insisted he would not give up on his target to reduce net migration to below 100,000.

Last year, net migration rose by 50% to 318,000, the highest level for a decade - with sharp increases from inside and outside the EU.