Who benefits from migrants?

[sasguru]

Further to my previous post, its interesting what's happening in London at the moment, the investment banks, software companies like Google etc are all making huge investments in London. That's because of the talent they can get (much of it foreign). London is now > 50% populated by people of foreign origin (including Britsh-born children of immigrants).
And it produces a fifth of British GDP while increasingly other parts of Britain are economic backwaters.

Personally I see it as a form of continuation of Empire and neo-colonialism - get the foreigners to work for the country as a whole while the Brits obtain the fruit of their labour. The only difference is now they work in London as opposed to their native countries.

[mos]

Seems to work for Switzerland.

UK would be much more comfortable in the Union with India, Pakistan, Somalia and Nigeria.

[mos]

the investment banks, (...) are all making huge investments in London. That's because of the talent they can get (much of it foreign).

[northernladuk]

I live in the South East
I pay my UK born & bred Gardener £10 an hour
On those occasions when I hire in labour rather than DIY - they are all UK born & bred - not by any selection or preference just the way it is & work out at £10-15 @ hour for decorating and £20-25 @ hour for semi /skilled workers - more if heavy plant is involved
I wouldn't trust anyone to look after my kids except immediate family so no reference point to quote
All are receipted upon payment so presumably going through the books
However, the local hand car washes are without exception staffed by immigrants,and involve cash payments so cannot say if tax & NI being paid

Yes you can!

[SueEllen]

I have to draw a conclusion based on the fact that not a single local person has applied for an openly advertised (albeit part-time) position.

Isn't it a factor of exactly where you are in the SE you will get different people being tradesmen, cleaners, gardeners etc.

Loads of people will only work in locations convenient for them so in my case I've found 50% of the people I've used have been immigrants and 50% have been British born and bred.

The Brits tend to be the younger and older people I've employed. While the immigrants are in the middle.

The immigrants live a few London boroughs away i.e. in a cheaper place while the Brits live nearby. In any case getting to my place from where they live is easy indicating housing costs are a factor.

[sasguru]

The trouble with closing borders is that if people can't move where the jobs are the jobs will move where the people are.

And that is the issue in a nutshell.
Only about 16% of a population has an IQ > 115, which is what knowledge companies want.
A country that bans immigration is stuffed because of that simple fact.
And hence you have places like London where 56% of the population have a degree and why companies like Google set up here - it's due to attracting talent from all over the world.
It's a social paradigm shift - the cognitive revolution.

[sasguru]

I don't consider you as talent since you seem to be competing with the second-rate Indians we have here, judging by your whining.

[northernladuk]

Isn't it a factor of exactly where you are in the SE you will get different people being tradesmen, cleaners, gardeners etc.

Loads of people will only work in locations convenient for them so in my case I've found 50% of the people I've used have been immigrants and 50% have been British born and bred.

The Brits tend to be the younger and older people I've employed. While the immigrants are in the middle.

The immigrants live a few London boroughs away i.e. in a cheaper place while the Brits live nearby. In any case getting to my place from where they live is easy indicating housing costs are a factor.

I was going to comment along these lines. We can't get much in the way of UK people doing laborious jobs as our town is a bit out of the way and a tad expensive so there are not too many people on those incomes in the area. The only ones that are are the immigrants and they live stacked in to a house that they make absolutely no effort to maintain and is a blight on the street it is on (the one I am aware of). It's a bit of a vicious circle really. This cheap labour can afford to be in the area because the don't maintain their house and live 5 or 6 to a house and happy to do so. Not exactly good for the area. Much of it is about local economics I think, particularly in semi rural areas.

[MicrosoftBob]

This is the Switzerland that's just voted to end 5 years of uncontrolled immigration from the EU?

Would you let in all the Indian computer programmers but keep out the polish fruit pickers? Is that what UK PLC needs?

I thought it was about letting in highly skilled migrants, not walty mitty programmers ?

[doodab]

I thought it was about letting in highly skilled migrants, not walty mitty programmers ?

Of course it's about letting in Walter Mitty programmers. Government policy has been geared towards driving down the going rate for any kind of skilled work because "employers" demand it for at least the last 30 years. All of the rewards should go to the entrepreneurs as they are the ONLY people who create wealth, the people who actually do the work are just cogs in the machine.