Every year the BSA survey asks over 3,000 people what it’s like to live in Britain and how they think Britain is run.  The survey tracks social, political and moral attitudes and is a barometer of public attitudes used by opinion leaders and social commentators.  ‘Being British Today’, the 2014 survey, is a snapshot of how Britain feels about itself, its boundaries, its identity and its inhabitants.

 

According to research carried out by NatCen Social Research for British Social Attitudes (BSA), the British view on current immigration levels is hardening, with 55% of those with the most negative view of the impact immigration has had on Britain believing that the main reason migrants come to the country is to claim benefits.  Amongst those who have the most positive view of immigration, only 7% see this as the most common reason for immigration.

 

The most ‘economically advantaged’ are more positive than average about immigration with 60% thinking that immigration has benefited Britain economically, compared with 17% of those with no qualifications.

 

The survey also examined what the British public see as most important in determining whether or not someone is ‘truly British’, finding that they expect someone who is British to speak English, to have lived here for most of their life, and to have been born in Britain.  The survey showed little change between 1995 and 2003 when the questions were last asked, but since then, according to the survey, the British public have become more likely to expect someone who is British to speak English and live here.  Read the full survey.

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.