Immigration is a controversial topic across the world. Perception of immigrants varies from individuals and country to country, but generally people either are for, or against immigration. Especially in the UK, where one of the main reasons to leave the EU was for the United Kingdom to take back control of immigration, opposing the free movement within the EU -if individuals have an EU passport- (Edwards, 2017).
Personally, I believe that legal immigration is a benefit for everyone involved. Being an immigrant myself, coming from Germany to study in the UK (due to wanting to study in English), I can only hope that everyone accepts me. I also believe that there is a difference between immigration, and illegal immigration, with legal migration being beneficial for the economy, and illegal not, as the illegal immigrants are not registered with the government.
Legal immigration can be seen as a bad thing, however, two thirds of immigrants coming to the UK already have a job offer when they arrive, and 50% are already university graduates (Real Business, 2017). Also, 16% of the UK workforce was born overseas, and if every migrants withdrew their labour for a day, it would cost the UK £328 million (Real Business, 2017). This shows how dependent and interconnected the English economy already is. Migrants don’t only contribute to the economy, but also bring fresh ideas, due to being schooled in a different environment, offering new solutions to challenges than born and bred UK workers (Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2015). Often immigrants also fill in gaps in sectors where additional manpower is needed, such as in the technological sector (Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2015).
However, I can understand that if immigrants do not assimilate into the workforce properly, or don’t integrate in work teams, it can be an issue for businesses. This is because due to not socializing with the work team, it has a harmful effect on the group work morale (Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2015). This usually only happens in lower skilled industries.
Therefore, I believe that immigration is beneficial for the UK economy, but it has to be done properly, with managers enforcing assimilation strategies for their overseas born employees.
Credits to:
Department for Business Innovation and Skills (2015). The impacts of migrant workers on UK Business. UK Government.
Edwards, J. (2017). Racists are in for a big surprise when they see what happens to immigration after Brexit. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/immigration-after-brexit-2017-11?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 5 Mar. 2020].
Real Business. (2017). The loss of UK migration and its impact on British business. [online] Available at: https://realbusiness.co.uk/loss-uk-migration-impact-british-business/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2020].
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