by Michael Dembinski, BPCC head of policy
The UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published probably the most comprehensive report to date on the effects of migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe on the British economy.
The report, The UK's New Europeans, summarizes the first five years of migration from the so-called 'A8′ countries (the eight post-communist countries that joined the EU on May 1, 2004). Of the 1.5 million that came to the UK since that date, over one million were from Poland. Half of the total immigrants have already gone home.
The report describes these workers as being generally better qualified than the native British population, but working typically in lower-paid, low-skilled work. By soaking up UK employers' unmet demand for labor, the well-motivated new EU workforce contributed positively to the British economy, though creating new social tensions.
Reviewing many previous studies about new EU migration, the new report is a well-considered and balanced synthesis that rings true with what the BPCC has been seeing over the years. The role of recruitment agencies in finding new EU workers for Britain's rural food processing industries is said to be instrumental in spreading the latest wave of migrants well beyond the big cities.
A 2006 study cited in the report talks of migrants being either 'storks' (flying backwards and forwards), ‘hamsters' (saving money before returning home), 'stayers' (determined to rise up the career ladder in the UK) and 'searchers' (keeping options open at all times). These labels are very useful for British employers when considering their Polish employees.
The current recession is hitting A8 migrants less hard than native Brits or migrants from outside the EU, with only 5 percent of them being currently jobless, compared to 7.8 percent of Brits and over 12 percent for non-EU migrants. Employers are hanging on to the human resources that offer them best value for money. Although A8 migrants start on lower rungs on the pay ladder than other workers in the UK, their earnings grow faster (by 5 percent a year) than native Brits (1 percent).
The report misses two highly important issues. The first is the effect of currency fluctuation; working in the UK is an entirely different proposition when a pound buys you seven złoty at home than when it's a mere four złoty. Surveys conducted among Polish migrant workers in the UK have shown that as a group they are very sensitive to currency movements. The second is that between early 2004 and mid 2008, unemployment in Poland fell faster than in any advanced economy, ever (from 21 percent to 7 percent, according to Eurostat).
