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Immigration and the UK labour market: the latest evidence from economic research

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  • Wadsworth, Jonathan

Abstract

During periods of strong economic growth, migration is and has always been important for filling gaps in the labour market. On balance, the evidence for the UK labour market suggests that fears about the consequences of rising immigration have been exaggerated. It is hard to find evidence of much displacement of UK workers or lower wages, on average. Immigrants, especially in recent years, tend to be younger and better educated than the UK-born and are less likely to be unemployed. They certainly do not receive preferential access to housing. But there have been some effects. The less skilled may have experienced greater downward pressure on wages and greater competition for jobs than others, but these effects still appear to have been modest. Unfortunately we do not know much about whether the effects of immigration are different in downturns. We also need to understand more about how capital and sectoral shifts in demand respond to immigration over the longer run. Future migration trends will, as ever, depend on relative economic performance and opportunity. But we still need to know more about the effects of rising immigration beyond the labour market in areas like prices, housing, health, crime and welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Wadsworth, Jonathan, 2012. "Immigration and the UK labour market: the latest evidence from economic research," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 57983, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:57983
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Christian Dustmann & Tommaso Frattini & Caroline Halls, 2010. "Assessing the Fiscal Costs and Benefits of A8 Migration to the UK," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 1-41, March.
    2. Tommaso Frattini, 2012. "Immigrazione," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, issue 3, pages 363-407, July-Sept.
    3. Sara Lemos & Jonathan Portes, 2008. "New Labour? The Impact of Migration from Central and Eastern European Countries on the UK Labour Market," Discussion Papers in Economics 08/29, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bisello, Martina, 2014. "How does immigration affect natives’ task-specialisation? Evidence from the United Kingdom," ISER Working Paper Series 2014-12, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. Martina Bisello, 2013. "Job polarization in Britain from a task-based perspective.Evidence from the UK Skills Surveys," Discussion Papers 2013/160, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    immigration; government policy; education; labour market; jobs; wages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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