How has an immigration influenced

How has an immigration influenced diversity in the UK?

Charlie

Over the past few decades, the UK has experienced an influx of migrants that have entered the country in search for work and a place to live. In 1995, foreign-born individuals only made up 7% of the UK’s population, however within a short period of 20 years, that ratio had almost doubled to 13% of the UK’s population (Demireva, 2019). With such a dramatic shift over such a short space of time, it is interesting to see how the variety of cultures and lifestyles have been integrated into society and how the social attitudes of migrants and towards migrants have changed.

The issue of immigration is potentially one of the most hotly contested political debates and formed a very large part of the UK’s decision to leave the EU in the 2016, with an aim to ‘take back control of our borders’. A common misconception of immigration is that of the one that we see in the news, of refugees and asylum seekers pilling onto dinghies in a desperate attempt to cross the channel; however, they make up the smallest category of immigrants. More commonly, immigration is of people that migrate in order to work, study or be with family. Media and government policies have created a negative perception of immigration to much of the UK public, in fact ‘40% of Britons do not think that diversity benefits the UK culture’ (Rahim, 2018), so when looking into the issue, it is important not to be lead down a path ignorance. Additionally, it is important to understand that immigrants who are looking for work will have a different impact on society than those who are refugees, for example.

Furthermore, it is important to understand that spatial variation in the number of migrants will affect the impacts that it will have on that area. London has the highest percentage of the migrant population, with over three million of the nine million total population constating of people born outside of the UK (Kone, 2018). Compared to places such as the North East, which has a migrant population of 150,000, compared to the total population of three million, it is clear to see that London will be hit by the impacts of immigration much more heavily, whether they be positive or negative, and the spatial variation acts as an amplifier of the effects that immigration can have.

The economy

Firstly, the flow of workers, particularly EU nationals since the UK joined the EU in 1973, has dramatically increased the labour force of the UK. There are two main categories when considering immigration, and that is those looking for work, and those looking for study. Those looking for work will have a huge benefit on the economy, as they increase the productive capacity of the country and therefore can lead to a rise in GDP of the UK and therefore have a positive increasing effect on the economic growth of the UK. A common myth that the immigrants ‘take the work of UK-nationals’ is something that counters

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/6399/economics/impactof-immigration-on-uk-economy/

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/real-gdp-capita the argument that immigration encourages economic growth, however seeing as these claims are over lower-paid work it is clear that this claim is false.

Highlighting this is the data which shows that up to 43% of immigrants received some level of higher education, whilst only 21% of those born in the UK have. Therefore, the economic problems of unemployment have not stemmed from an increase in immigration, and it is also seen that immigrants will move to an area where there skills are most in demand, so the actual number of immigrants ‘taking the jobs of UK nationals’ is very low. Secondly, as with all types of migrants, people looking for work will bring money from other economies which will be spent on goods and services, such as housing, in the UK and therefore they are contributing to the UK economy.

In the 2018/2019 academic year, around 486,000 international students migrated to the UK in order to study at higher education levels (Walsh, 2020). The economic benefits of this were huge as it was estimated that they created a gross output of £25.8 billion in 2014-15 as a result of spending on tuition fees, purchase of goods and services, and visits together (International students now worth £25 billion to UK economy - new research, 2017). Clearly, the revenue as a result of immigration is overwhelmingly positive as it will allow the economy to grow, as money is being brought in and spent from foreign economy’s. Therefore, the result of diversity in the education system will allow for a much faster and bigger growth of the UK economy than without the inflow of foreign students as a result of immigration.

Whilst there are positive impacts on the economy, it is also important to consider the negative impacts as well. Firstly, it is common for migrant workers to be willing to work at a lower wage than those of

UK origin because often they will be working for a much higher salary than they would have otherwise achieved anyway, and as a result, the competition and exploitation of this leads to a potential wage reduction. It is hard to measure exactly how immigration affects this, however a study by MAC (2018)suggested that between 1993 and 2017, the total effect of EU migration on the wages of UK-born workers was estimated to be a 4.9% reduction in wages for those at the 10th earnings percentile, a 1.6% reduction at the 25th percentile, a 1.6% increase at the 50th percentile, and a 4.4% increase at the 90th percentile. This highlights how migrants may have a negative impact on some types of jobs, i.e. lower-skilled ones, whereas high-skilled jobs may benefit from it.

Additionally, workers who move to the UK with dependants (i.e. children or elderly) will be an economic negative for the UK. The economy must support these people with education and healthcare, on top of the existing population, whilst the dependents will not add to the economy as they do not work and there for have no productive potential. Therefore, an increase in diversity as a result of immigration will have different economic impacts for different age categories of a population, depending on how much each category adds and takes away from the UK economy.

Social

A common issue felt amongst residents in the UK is that the country is becoming overcrowded, and as a result of the rapidly growing population, living standards are falling, with a belief that immigration is only boosting this negative.

On the other side of the argument, migrants have also felt the affects of issues such as racism and racial discrimination, which has not allowed them the same access to services and opportunities experienced by UK nationals . A study in 2018 showed that 16% of migrants in the UK said they would describe themselves as a group that has been discriminated against, however it is perceived that this number is much higher. A key example of the hostility that immigrants receive is that of the Windrush scandal, that saw many black British nationals wrongfully treated as ‘illegal immigrants’, resulting in many losing their jobs, homes, benefits and access to the NHS (2020). Incidents such as these highlight how the UK is struggling to some extent to accommodate and welcome migrants so that they can be integrated into society, and can often make them feel as if they aren’t wanted in the British society, despite any positives they have brought. As a result, there is often a lot of social and political tensions between minority ethnic migrants and the government/ society.

Furthermore, a report by the Government’s Cohesion Panel in July 2004 highlighted that “The pace of change (for a variety of reasons) is simply too great in some areas at present”, pointing out that the fast rate of increasing diversity maybe isn’t allowing for society to integrate different cultures together as well as they hoped, and that the affects varied in different areas. This highlights how the much greater freedom to migrate to the UK since it joined the EU has meant that the rate at which diversity is growing has dramatically increased and that the society cannot adapt and integrate these new and different cultures as quickly as they are being introduced. Highlighting this potential instability due to the growing rate of diversity is the 2011 London riots which showed that rioters were more likely to come from economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods and neighbourhoods where ethnic fractionalization was high (Biggs, 2015). This idea of ethnic fractionalization refers to the different cultural, linguistic, and/ or religious groups that exist in an area, and the proportions of each.

However, there can be social advantages of increasing diversity as a result of immigration to the UK. Differing practises and views can inspire new ways of thinking and innovation that would not have been possible without the input from different backgrounds. For example, companies in the UK that had a high level if diversity at a management level tended to

attract more investment and deals with foreign firms, and therefore boosted the economy. One reason behind this is that the different backgrounds of the managing partners allowed them to realise that there were other ways of achieving profit, that may have been from outside the economy, and this diversity allowed them to mix with other economies that would have otherwise been isolated from the UK’s.

Overall, the UK has an ageing demographic, which means that there is a high dependence and stress being put on the labour force, particularly for healthcare, such as care workers in retirement homes, which means that the boost of workers due to immigration has had a hugely positive impact in that regard. A study of the NHS highlights that 13.8% of NHS workers are reported to be nonBritish nationality (Baker, 2020). A major indicator that immigration is an overall positive for the economy is the demographic of the immigrants, with the majority of them being economically active adults, suggesting that many are going to support the labour force. However, the economic gains must be considered alongside the potential social losses. Social affects are less easy to quantify than economic ones, however it is clear from movements such as the Black Lives Matter campaign, that there are social issues that exist in the UK. So, the effect of immigration in this regard is negative because it can cause social tension between communities, and factors such as inequalities can lead to events such as the London Riots in 2011, which is a large negative for the UK. However, this must be weighed up with less obvious benefits. London, the largest and most thriving city in the UK has a immigrant population of over four million, and has used the multiculturalism in a positive way to build a city that can benefit greatly as a result of immigration. The idea that the most diverse city in the UK is also the one that is thriving the most highlights that all the various impacts of immigration into the country have an overall net benefit.

References (2018). Migration Advisory Committee. “EEA migration in the UK: Final report”, September 2018. Baker, C. (2020). NHS staff from overseas: statistics. Biggs, K. a. (2015). “Anarchy in the UK: Economic Deprivation, Social Disorganization, and Political Grievances in the London Riot of 2011.”. Social Forces, 673-698. Demireva, D. N. (2019, December 13). Immigration, Diversity and Social Cohesion. Retrieved from The Migration Observatory: https:// migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/ resources/briefings/immigrationdiversity-and-social-cohesion/ International students now worth £25 billion to UK economy - new research. (2017, March 6). Retrieved from Universities UK: https://www. universitiesuk.ac.uk/news/Pages/ International-students-now-worth25-billion-to-UK-economy---newresearch.aspx Kone, Z. (2018). Where do migrants live in the UK. The Migration Observatory. Rahim, Z. (2018, September 17). 40% of Britons do not think diversity benefits UK culture, poll reveals. Retrieved from Indpendant: https:// www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ home-news/uk-immigration-diversitymigrants-brexit-hope-not-hateeconomy-culture-a8541066.html Walsh, P. (2020, March 21). International Student Migration to the UK. Retrieved from The MIgration Observatory: https://migrationobservatory. ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/ international-student-migrationto-the-uk/#:~:text=In%20the%20 academic%20year%202018,a%20 fifth%20of%20all%20students.

What is systemic racism and how does it affect our immigration system in the UK? (2020, June 24). Retrieved from Freedom from Torture: https:// www.freedomfromtorture.org/news/ what-is-systemic-racism-and-howdoes-it-affect-our-immigration-systemin-the-uk