January 7, 2008 | posted by Michael Baxter in Immigration |

It’s amazing how headlines can tell a story. Just before Christmas, the Telegraph ran a story with the headline “100,000 lose out to migrants in hunt for work.” Yet, on the web site workpermit.com, an article reporting on the same survey the Telegraph was referring to said, “Study finds that the UK needs immigrants.”The two articles were both referring to a report by Ernst Young ITEM Club. In fact the ITEM Club has often been one to talk up for immigrants, emphasizing the economic benefits they bring. The latest report was no exception, it’s just time that its findings were qualified.

Peter Spencer, Chief Economic Advisor to the ITEM Club, said, “Without a million and a half foreign workers since 1997, the UK economy would have suffered slower GDP growth, higher inflation and interest rates… Looking forward, if immigration were to continue to increase at the same rate as in the last two years, ITEM would expect GDP to grow by an impressive 3 per cent a year over the next decade.” He added “If immigration were in line with the average of the last decade, long-term trend growth would be reduced to 2.4 percent a year. And if there were no immigration at all, it would drop to just 2.2 per cent a year.”

The Telegraph, however, chose to focus on the downside. “There is some evidence that the growth of immigrant employment seen in the last few years may have come at the expense of the domestic workforce,” it quoted. And then added, “Given the age and skill profile of many of the new immigrants, it is possible that ‘native’ youngsters may have been losing out in the battle for entry-level jobs.”

It does seem that actually both sides of the immigration debate have merit. Immigrants are easy targets, and some of the comment in the press, which by the way is repeated over and over again by the public, seems little more than xenophobia.

There is no doubt that UK PLC has benefited from immigration. It’s not just workers doing the low-paid jobs, but the UK has also seen a flow of highly qualified individuals who have helped create wealth, not to mention employment, for the UK.

Since immigrants tend to be younger, often with no children, they are not great users of public services such as the NHS and the education system, either.

It seems they contribute far more in tax than they take out.

But that is not to say there is no downside at all. It seems likely that immigration has acted as a stopper on wage inflation, which might be good for the rate of interest, but it’s bad for workers trying to eke out a living.

Recently, Steven Gerrard the Liverpool captain said it well when he talked about how English football players are struggling to get in the first team of Premiership clubs, and as a result, the England national team is beginning to suffer.

When you leave school there is often this Catch-22 problem. You need experience to get your first career job, but until you get that job you have no experience. There is a danger that immigration could make this initial challenge even harder.

Immigration is good for the UK, but not necessarily good for all those who are already living in the UK.

Maybe the answer is a solution that applies equally to the comments of Mr Gerrard. Maybe Brits should be more willing to try for jobs abroad.

When we emigrate from the UK to another EU country, it is normally as a form of retirement. It often seems quite hypocritical when Brits with their second homes are one of the costs pushing up property prices in the local area, moan about immigrants pushing up the cost of UK homes.

But the truth is, the issue of immigration is complex. There are arguments for and against - but up to now the debate in the media has only touched the surface.