Immigration in the United Kingdom: An Economic Analysis

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Immigration in the United Kingdom
Immigrating to a country or place means to move or relocate to that country or place. And
UK being a famous and attractive location for people to pole their flag has seen immigrants
moving into the country since a long time. The cause of such activity is mainly the labour and
economic market in the UK. Other than that established networks, study opportunities,
language are some more factors which motivate people to move to UK. The impact of such
activity in UK has been both beneficial and degrading to the country by increasing the net
GDP but also has decreased the native public’s training.
The reasons or causes for immigrating to UK
 Labour and economic market in UK – the major reason for migrating to UK is
definitely the demand of economy growth low and high skilled sectors in UK
economy. So, it becomes an attraction for those residing in poor countries to in get
some good income and save their family from crisis (Czaika, 2017)
 Existing family networks – those who have already migrated to UK share a
wonderful experience of living there to their relatives and friends and it facilitates
them to move there too.
 The English language – English being the second most widely spoken language of all,
is another factor which drives foreigners to choose to move to UK (Kone and
Markaki, 2017)
 Healthcare access – The good healthcare system in UK is another attractive feature of
the nation. As found by Svallar(2018), The NHS (National Healthcare System) in UK
is very well funded and strong, with providing care at very low expenses, with the top
notch researchers and doctors in the world.
 According to UNESCO, UK ranks second at having the highest number of
international students, this is because of having a great education system and
universities.
 The migration policies – the migration polices also play a vital role in attracting
foreigners to migrate in UK. The policies have become more significant in legalising
immigration for study and work in UK.

 Limitations in migrating to other countries – many European countries still have strict
immigration policies and these restrictions divert people from moving to those
countries to those with less regulations and restrictions, like UK (Czaika, 2017).
The impact or effects of immigration in UK
 Effects on labour market – according to the findings by Portes (2018), the
immigration has caused a negative impact on low skilled workers but that too is quite
short lived and small. But, based on the census 2011 these impacts are not much
significant now.
 The immigration leads to increase in productivity. With an increase of one percent
labour force, there comes an increase of two to three percent in overall productivity of
the country (Portes, 2018).
 GDP increment – the immigration has also resulted in increase of net GDP of the
nation and also per capita GDP. As been found out by Jaumotte et al. (2016) the one
percent increase in adult population’s migrant share there is an increase of about two
percent in per capita GDP.
 Impact on public service – Immigration impacts the goods and services’ prices too.
Immigration has led to prices’ fall in non-tradable services and goods, but a jump in
tradable goods’ prices (Frattini, 2008)
 Brexit – The decrease in immigration due to Brexit has caused an adverse effect on
UK per capita GDP and productivity.
 Fiscal impacts – the increase in immigration has caused both good and bad impacts,
the positive effects being the dominant again can be seen in the contribution in
government taxes by the young ones and but there is one bad part too. The
government is failing to fulfil the necessities in areas, for example, shortage in
primary schools in some areas because of more migrated people and their kids in that
area (Portes, 2018).
People migrating to UK can find a lot of reasons to do so. UK is not only a famous nation but
also one with good healthcare system, immigration policies, preference of English language,
and of course a student hub with having top ranked universities and education system. There

have been good and bad impacts of immigration, ranging from sharpening the economy to the
decrement of low skilled labours’ income, yet the positive ones are over powering the
negative ones, and making UK a welcoming nation.

References
 Mathias Czaika (2017) Determinants of Migration to the UK [Online]. Available
from: https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/determinants-of-
migration-to-the-uk/ [Accessed 23/02/19]
 Kone, Z. and Markaki, Y. (2017) Why do immigrants come to the UK? [Online].
Available from: https://fullfact.org/immigration/why-do-international-migrants-come-
uk/ [Accessed 23/02/19]
 Svallar (2018) 6 Reasons Why People Migrate to the UK [Weblog] Ria UK Blog. 9th
July. Available from: http://blog.riamoneytransfer.co.uk/6-reasons-why-people-
migrate-to-the-uk/ [Accessed 23/02/19]
 UNESCO UIS (2019) Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students [Online] Unesco.org.
Available from: http://uis.unesco.org/en/uis-student-flow [Accessed 23/02/19].
 Portes, J. (2018) The economic impacts of immigration to the UK [Online]. Available
at: https://voxeu.org/article/economic-impacts-immigration-uk [Accessed 23/02/19]
 Jaumotte, M.F., Koloskova, K. and Saxena, M.S.C., (2016). Impact of migration on
income levels in advanced economies. International Monetary Fund.
 Frattini, T (2008), "Immigration and Prices in the UK", mimeo, University College
London