Migration Policy Institute examines outcomes for immigrant workers in UK labour market

The “Moving Up the Ladder? Labor Market Outcomes in the United Kingdom amid Rising Immigration” report analyses the labour market integration of recent immigrants to the United Kingdom .The 2000s saw a significant increase in the foreign-born working-age population in the United Kingdom, in part because of the decision to forgo restrictions on the inflow of workers from the new European Union Member States. Starting in 2004, a large influx of labour from Eastern European countries—especially Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania—transformed the country’s immigrant population and labour market.

 

Migration Policy Institute suggests the plentiful supply of labour from immigration coupled with the United Kingdom’s flexible labour market encouraged job creation during the 2000s. While the economic crisis of 2008 and subsequent recession affected employment rates, the United Kingdom did not experience the large-scale unemployment that other countries suffered. However, immigrants who entered after 2008 found it more difficult to get work. Newcomers’ countries of origin, level of education, and time since arrival all shaped their occupational mobility and employment outcomes

 

The report is part of a series of case studies on titled “The Labor Market Integration of New Arrivals in Europe”. ​This project evaluates the ease with which foreign-born workers within the European Union are able to establish themselves in destination-country labor markets during the first decade after arrival. The research evaluates the conditions under which new immigrants are able not only to find employment, but also to progress into middle-skilled jobs.