Foreign workers face the heat of recession

As the recession gets deeper, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith outlined new measures in order to bar tens of thousands of foreign workers from outside Europe entering to work in Britain.

As the recession gets deeper, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith outlined new measures in order to bar tens of thousands of foreign workers from outside Europe entering to work in Britain.

The outlined package includes possible moves to prevent the families of skilled migrants currently working in Britain and restricting skilled workers from foreign nations to acquiring jobs only in occupations which are facing severe shortages.

The package represents considerable tightening of the new Australian-type points-based system and this has arrived after just four months of its introduction last November due to mounting protests for “British jobs for British workers” and also due to fears that British National Party might win seats for the first time in the European elections in June.

Legal movement of unskilled economic migrants to Britain from outside Europe has already been banned by the government and now the outlined package represents the first
Step aimed towards reducing the number of skilled migrants coming to Britain to work.

Smith signaled that raising the levels of qualification for tier 1, which is the most highly skilled migrant route, might cut the numbers from 26,000 to just 14,000 each year. The new qualifications criteria will require a master’s degree instead of a bachelor’s degree along with a job offer with the salary higher than earlier.

Smith also asked the migration advisory committee of the government to assess the economic case in order to limit skilled workers under tier 2 to jobs in shortage occupations only.

Chaired by LSE professor David Metcalf, the migration advisory committee has also been asked to assess the economic impact of disallowing the spouses and other dependents of foreign workers from acquiring jobs in Britain. This move might affect thousands of people from India, Pakistan and parts of Africa, coming to work in Britain each year.

Smith said that these measures are not about slight protectionism. She said that just as the country needed migrants in growth period to support the growth, it is the need of the hour in the downturn to be more selective about skilled levels of those migrants and also do more to prefer British workers first.

The home secretary said that she is taking these actions due to the current economic circumstances. As the migration levels seem to fall during recession periods, the home secretary expects the number of migrants from outside Europe to come in during the next financial year.