Labour's justification for mass immigration was torn to shreds by experts last night.
The experts are the members of the House of Lords economics committee, which includes two former Chancellors, economists and captains of industry. They delivered a report which found that mass immigration to the UK had:
a) reduced the wages of workers in low-paid jobs
b) not improved average living standards
c) increased the cost of housing, keeping young families off the housing ladder
Importantly, the commitee rejected the argument that mass immigration was needed to fill skilled labour shortages. It noted that despite a massive influx of labour (700,000 from Eastern Europe alone since 2004), the number of vacancies remained above 600,000, due to the fact that the immigrants consume as well as provide services.
A Conservative Party spokesman let another cat out of the bag. He pointed out that relying on immigrant labour was hazardous in the long-term because it meant that the training of local workers could be overlooked. According to David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, the report showed,
unequivocally that the benefits of the current immigration policy to ordinary UK citizens are largely non-existent.
There are a series of long-term risks to the economy, not least the disincentive to train, and it presents absolutely no answer to the pension crisis.
And the Labour Party response? The Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne, said of the report that:
It proves we were right to set up the independent Migration Advisory Committee to tell us which workers our new Australian-style points system should keep out or let in.
We're glad to see the committee welcome the system as well as our ban on low-skilled migration from outside Europe.
An Australian system won't really fix the problems identified in the report. In Australia we still have mass immigration; like the UK we're stuck in a cycle in which mass immigration is used to fill labour market shortages, but then creates more shortages; like the UK we're suffering from a "disincentive to train" which is most obvious in our increasing reliance on overseas doctors; nor does our system prevent low-skilled migration, with a return to Islander labour schemes now being discussed by the Rudd Government.
If the British elite is serious now about the costs of immigration then it must insist on following the report's recommendation that a cap be set on the numbers of immigrants accepted into the UK.
Tuesday April 1
ReplyDeleteImmigration blamed for housing crisis
A massive, uncontrolled increase in immigration in the past three years has fuelled the housing affordability crisis, home builders say.
Housing Industry Association (HIA) managing director Ron Silberberg blamed the shortage of private rental accommodation on net immigration he estimated at 250,000 people a year.
"There has been an uncontrolled expansion of the immigration program," Dr Silberberg told a Senate committee in Canberra.
"The pace in which it's increased has been massive over the last three years.
"Do we need an explanation as to why there's pressure on private rental housing?"
I'm glad that someone has finally recognised this, but I doubt that the KRudd government will do anything for all the talk of "working families" just as the State "Labor" governments, particularly WA's, have sat on their hands over releasing land for development whilst seeking to increase the number of people coming in.
ReplyDeleteSuch people have their "cultural change" ambitions based upon the idea of mass immigration and "multiculturalism" engineering and justifying their "progressive reforms" of the country. They also see immigrants as political virgins that they can rally to the cause, or, worse, as part of the patronage group politics that some political hacks love. This involves believing that these people will vote as ethnic blocks on the say so of some "ethnic leader" - witness the scheme to deselect Simon Crean, or Bolkis and Keating's intervention to prevent Hilaly's deportation. On top of that there is the possible economic self interest in the political class and the designation of "racism" in any form (except denigrating "whitey") as being the new greatest evil, means that I think it is very hard to imagine a government such as Rudd's acting on this, much less letting it be propagated.
One reason why the economic benefits of immigration are overstated is because people fall for the, "the majority of immigrants are skilled" line dished out by the government. True many, maybe most are, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are work ready and the majority are quickly directed to areas of VITAL economic need.
ReplyDeleteFor example, many skilled non-western immigrants have qualifications that can't be properly verified, and lack sufficient language skills for professional positions.
The government and the private sector can't be trusted to assess skilled immigration.
Independent bodies are needed to assess the job market objectively, with priority given to candidates who are self-starters, have technical skills in which anglo-celtics are traditionally weak, and likely to fit in culturally.
In New Zealand for example,we have significant numbers of underemployed non-European immigrants with excellent paper qualification yet most of the actual vacanies are filled by experienced workers from the UK/SA/North Europe or Indian immigrants with good language skills.
Speaking of New Zealand:
ReplyDeleteNZ Party Urges Asian Immigrant Ban
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand should shut its door on Asian immigrants to prevent the country from being inundated with people who will not integrate well into society, a leader of an anti-immigrant party said Wednesday.
The comments by New Zealand First deputy leader Peter Brown followed the release of figures showing that the country's Asian population is likely to grow 3.4 percent a year through 2026 — faster than any other ethnic group.
"The matter is serious," Brown said in a statement. "They will form their own mini-societies to the detriment of integration and that will lead to division, friction and resentment."
New Zealand's overall population is projected to rise to 5.5 million from the current 4.2 million over the next 18 years.
Some 14 percent of the total population is expected to claim Asian ethnicity in 2026, with their numbers nearly doubling from 400,000 in 2006 to 790,000, government statistician Geoff Bascand said.
All the nation's main ethnic groups, including Maori, Pacific Islanders and ethnic Europeans, will grow in the next two decades, Bascand said. But those with Asian links are likely to grow the fastest, he said, surpassing the total number of Maori.
Brown blamed New Zealand's "open door" immigration policies. Many Asians come to the country for work and then never leave.
"No other country follows blind policies of importing people and exporting jobs like New Zealand and it is time this foolishness was ended for the sake of the people who live here now," he said. "There is real danger we will be inundated with people who have no intention of integrating into our society."
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