UK to Cut Skilled Labor Influx to Protect Jobs
The British government's independent Migration Advisory Committee has recommended that Britain reduce the flow of skilled non-EU labor in order to protect British jobs during the current economic recession.
The committee recommended that Parliament reduce the number of skilled workers from outside the European Union by 10%, reserving an additional 5,000 jobs for British workers. The committee also recommended that employers be forced to increase wages for non-EU foreign workers (removing one of the incentives for hiring foreign labor), increase the qualifications that these workers must have, and advertise job vacancies for a longer period of time before they can be filled by non-EU foreign workers.
The committee's chairman, Professor David Metcalf, said the proposed changes would act as an "automatic stabiliser and not be constantly adjusted in response to the economic cycle". He said the changes they were proposing would be put forward regardless of whether there was rising unemployment. "They are not a knee-jerk reaction to the recession," he said.
Britain has already acted to reduce the number of non-EU foreign workers entering the country. In 2008, 69,000 skilled non-EU workers came to Britain, as opposed to 50,000 permits in 2009.
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