Skilled migrant jobs to be cut by a third
Positions open to non-EU workers slashed
Richard Ford, Home Correspondent
From The Times
April 30, 2009
The number of skilled jobs open to immigrants from outside the EU should be cut by 270,000 because of the recession and rising unemployment, the Governments official advisers recommended yesterday.
The posts of quantity surveyor and construction manager are to be taken off an official list of occupations with a recruitment problem that allows employers to hire from outside the EU. The Governments Migration Advisory Committee also urged ministers to remove all social workers, apart from those working with children and families, from the list.
David Metcalf, Professor of Industrial Relations at the London School of Economics and chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee, said that a planned partial review of the shortage list had been more extensive because we had to respond to the troubled times and economic turmoil in the labour market.
He said: These recommendations have taken account of the impact of the worldwide recession on the UK. The number of jobs covered by the shortage list falls from 800,000 to 530,000 as a result of yesterdays report.
Only a fraction of the jobs will be taken by immigrants, but because they are skills where there are shortages, employers are allowed under the new immigration system to recruit from outside the EU.
Mr Metcalf removed quantity surveyors and construction managers from the shortage list after receiving evidence of rising unemployment in both sectors. There were 4,794 unemployed construction managers in January compared with 835 a year earlier and unemployment among quantity surveyors rose from 130 to 730 in the same period, the review said.
The committee is beginning a review of the impact of the recession on all the other occupations on the shortage list with changes expected in September for chefs and teachers.
A lack of top-quality orchestral musicians, contemporary dancers, visual and computer animation technicians has persauded the committee to suggest that they be added to the list. Senior care workers with two years relevant experience along with nonconsultant doctors in genitourinary, obstetrics and gynaecology and intensive care medicine are on the list already.
Mr Metcalf warned that not all skilled worker shortages would be eliminated by the recession, although more British workers would seek employment in areas that have proved attractive to migrants.
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