Migrants DO take our jobs: Britons losing out to foreign workers, says official study #TheElitePartyinJuly #IRepEntertain9jarBlog via @myentertain9jar

BRITONS are losing out to foreign workers with one in six low-skilled jobs now held by an immigrant.

 

Of the UK's 13million low-skilled jobs, 2.1million are held by migrant workers [GETTY]

The number of British-born people in lowly-paid jobs has fallen by more than a million since 1997 – while migrants doing similar work rose by the same amount, official figures show.

A Home Office study published yesterday showed the jobs boom for migrants was fuelled by expansion of the European Union in 2004.

More than half of the new job-holders in ­Britain are eastern Europeans using freedom of movement rules to seek out better wages.

Of the UK’s 13 million low-skilled jobs, in areas such as horticulture and food manufacturing, about 2.1 million are now held by migrants, the report found. Nearly half of them, 840,000, are EU citizens.

Advisers on the Home Office’s Migration Advisory Committee who produced the research have now urged the Government to limit the impact of migration on local communities. And they warned ministers to “think carefully” about how they handle more EU expansion.

Ukip MEP Patrick O’Flynn said: “These figures demonstrate the damaging impact that mass immigration has had on the prospects of ordinary Brits.

 

These figures demonstrate the damaging impact that mass immigration has had on the prospects of ordinary Brits

Ukip MEP Patrick O’Flynn

“The low-skilled jobs market is now saturated by foreign workers, while communities have had to bear the brunt of this influx that has changed many neighbourhoods beyond recognition.

“We must leave the EU and take back control of Britain’s borders.”

The report said the rise in immigration over the past 15 to 20 years was “heavily influenced” by Labour’s policy of dishing out more work permits, student and family visas.

Ukip’s Patrick O’Flynn says low-skilled jobs market is now 'saturated' by foreign workers [TIM CLARKE]

It found that 75 per cent of the 2.9 million rise in the foreign-born population in the past 10 years was concentrated in just a quarter of towns, leaving them struggling to cope with the pressure on housing and services.

“Although nationally the economic impact of immigration is very modest, the economic and social impact on particular local authorities is much stronger,” the report said.

It states that between 1997 and 2013 the number of Britons in low-skilled jobs fell by 1.1 million, while the number of foreigners in such roles increased by the same amount.

The UK-born share of low-skilled jobs fell from 93 per cent to 84 per cent.

Some experts say a shift by two million Britons into high-skilled work explains this change. But the UK-born share of top-level jobs also fell six per cent to 86 per cent.

The committee raised concerns that migrants from five countries, including Turkey, that are currently negotiating to join the EU would once again find work in low-skilled occupations.

Sir Andrew Green, of Migration Watch UK, said: “One has to ask why some people are so keen to promote mass immigration in the teeth of public opinion.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “In the past, the majority of growth in employment was taken up by foreign nationals. Under this Government, three-quarters of this growth has been accounted for by British citizens.

“We are working across ­Government to ensure immigration works for this country and will use the findings of this report to inform our approach.”