This submission is in response to a request from the Clerk to the Economic Affairs Committee for further information on migration to the North of England, with particular reference to skills. It is an individual rather than School or University response. The following comments are concerned with Polish migration and are based on nearly three years accrued knowledge of Polish migrant workers following a series of projects in the North of England that either I have undertaken myself or in one case been part of a research team. Although, this work has not sort to specifically investigate the introduction of skilled Polish workers into the North of England I consider that it provides a context into which many skilled Polish workers have been introduced

Fitzgerald, Ian

English

Northumbria University Research Portal

SC/07-08/EA30The Economic Impact of ImmigrationThis submission is in response to a request from the Clerk to the Economic AffairsCommittee for further information on migration to the North of England, withparticular reference to skills. It is an individual rather than School or Universityresponse. The following comments are concerned with Polish migration and arebased on nearly three years accrued knowledge of Polish migrant workers following aseries of projects in the North of England that either I have undertaken myself1 or inone case been part of a research team2. Although, this work has not sort to specificallyinvestigate the introduction of skilled Polish workers into the North of England Iconsider that it provides a context into which many skilled Polish workers have beenintroduced.1. Background1.1 Before discussing Polish migration to the North it is worth again highlighting theimportance of differentiation when discussing migrant groups. Not only withingroups themselves, for example around social class, gender and age, but also betweenthose like the Poles who are entitled to live and work in the UK with little restriction.In contrast to other migrant groups who are often recruited via work permits or aresometimes importantly undocumented within the labour market. It is also importantto record that for a number of reasons, most notably the easily accessible transportlinks, the early signs are that the Poles are more transitory than many other priorgroups of migrant workers (Fitzgerald, 2008). Finally, the point must be made that aswith other early migrations to the UK Polish migration to the North is stilldeveloping, as communities establish themselves and newly arrived workers decideon what basis to remain and how secure they feel in their new surroundings.1 Fitzgerald, I. (2008) A moving target: The informational needs of Polish migrant workers in Yorkshire and theHumber, Leeds: Yorkshire and the Humber TUC; Fitzgerald, I. (2007a) An Analysis of the North EastWorker Registration Scheme Data, briefing paper for the Talent North East steering group, 3rd May 2007;Fitzgerald, I. (2007b) Working in the UK: Polish migrant worker routes into employment in the North East andNorth West construction and food processing sectors, London: TUC; Fitzgerald, I. (2006) Organising MigrantWorkers in Construction: Experience from the North East of England, Newcastle upon Tyne: Northern TUC;Fitzgerald, I. (2005) Migrant Workers in the North East of England, Newcastle upon Tyne: Northern TUC.2 Banks of the Wear (2007) Enterprise for BME Communities, Refugees and Migrants, One NorthEast.SC/07-08/EA301.2 Salt and Millar (2006)3 describe the entry of the EU accession eight (A8) workers,following May 2004, as the largest ever in-migration to the UK, with the Poles thelargest ever single ethnic group. This migration took all by surprise and left many at alocal level having to ‘fire-fight’ the numerous issues that have arisen. Migration hasbeen dramatic for many small towns and villages in the North, with the accessionmonitoring reports stating that the North has a larger number of registered A8workers than are registered in London and the South East. Although, following arequest through freedom of information4 it is clear that the North East has the lowestnumber of registered A8s in England (Fitzgerald, 2007a).1.3 With an increasing number of Polish workers in the North issues become not onlywhere people are living, for local service provision, but also where they are employed.A growing amount of research; the accession monitoring reports; and my northernstudies highlight that this is often in low paid sectors such as food processing. It isalso clear, though, that Polish workers are ubiquitous and are evident in other moreskilled sectors and occupations, including even exploring the possibility of startingnew UK businesses (see Banks of the Wear, 2007). Importantly, for some of those inlower skilled occupations, this may not be due to choice but more directly due toeither a lack of information on higher skilled work (Fitzgerald, 2008) or moreimportantly a lack of language skills. In particular the Committee will also be awarethat though there has been progression with the mapping of Polish and UKqualifications, this can still remain a barrier with job-to-job mobility. To begin tounpick this further the following section discusses the recruitment of Polish migrantworkers in construction and food processing. It is clear, though, through discussionswith key respondents at an international, national and regional level that these sectorfindings have some value when applied to the wider labour market.2. Recruitment of Polish workers in the North2.1 Although, still not fully granted, one of the four main freedoms of the EuropeanTreaty is the right of mobility for European workers. As part of this the EU in 1993created EURES to facilitate this movement and allow easier job-to-job mobility. Thisshould have helped facilitate skill needs at a regional and local level with assistancegiven to both employers and European migrants. However, the reality found in theNorth of England was that two of the three EURES advisers present, noted limited orno engagement with the increasing number of Polish workers found in food3 Salt, J. and Millar, J. (2006) ‘Foreign Labour in the United Kingdom: Current patterns and trends’,Labour Market Trends, ONS, October 2006.4 The accession monitoring reports confusingly combine the two RDA regions North East andYorkshire and the Humber into one ‘North East’ block.SC/07-08/EA30processing. Further, one of these advisers admitted that his recruitment engagementwith the overall numbers of A8 workers coming into his region had been limited(Fitzgerald, 2007b). At a recent Polish government launch of a report into thetreatment of A8 migrant workers5, an EU official spoke of the need to reinforce therole of EURES6. In the North it seems that often freedom of movement has beenexactly that, with limited co-ordination by government or other agencies in thisprocess. So if EURES are not the main facilitators of mobility how have Polishworkers found their jobs and how have companies managed their recruitment needs?2.2 Fitzgerald (2007b) sort to explain this with regard to construction and foodprocessing in the North East and North West. Whilst the mapping of job-to-jobmobility was not the aim of the project, its findings with regard to recruitment haverelevance to other sectors in which Poles are working. The project uncovered threemain recruitment routes into employment: on-spec recruitment, direct companyrecruitment; and direct agency recruitment. With no identifiable differences betweenthe introduction of skilled and unskilled labour.2.3 On spec recruitment relates to Polish workers who have made the decision tomigrate to the UK to work without a particular job being offered. This type ofmovement was identified as being prevalent in the early days of Polish accessionmigration. With Poles having a vague idea of where to go and what job to take,money was normally available for a short period to cope without a job. This was nowreported as becoming more structured with the use of family and friend networks toidentify both geographic and potential employment locations. Agencies and directemployers were also beginning to use currently employed family and friends toidentify Polish based recruits when needed. The study indicates that in many cases ifpeople use this route now without a definite job offer they are more likely to arrive inthe UK with an idea of where to go and what to do (for example primed withinformation from either websites or through family and friends). Althoughinformation from these sources may be limited or simply incorrect. Further, withwages in Poland still up to five times lower than in the UK job-to-job mobility may notbe people’s first requirement.2.4 With direct company recruitment the study found that it was evident thatemployers are beginning to use a number of resources to try to source Polish labour5 Carby-Hall, J. (2007) The Treatment of Polish and Other A8 Economic Migrants in the European UnionMember States, report for the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection of the Republic of Poland.6 Vignon, J. (2007) Drawing the lessons from the European year for workers mobility, presentation to the‘Economic Migration in the European Union – Problems and Challenges’ conference, Warsaw 24thSeptember 2007.SC/07-08/EA30directly. For example, there are numerous web pages and Polish based newspapersadvertising UK jobs. It was reported that companies are moving away from usingPolish and beginning to use English for advertisements. In Poland it was reportedthat job fairs were a common means of staff recruit. This was sometimes based on aparticular trade, for example bus drivers who were recruited on mass with UK unioncollaboration due to local shortages (Fitzgerald 2005). In North West construction andboth food processing sectors this was not noted as an overall main recruitmentstrategy. Although, in North East construction it was the main route into employmentfor many of the Polish workers encountered. Here the most worrying signs regardingskilled trades were evident. Sub contractors had directly recruited skilled workersfrom Poland and introduced them onto building sites at wages below the nationalindustry (the Working Rule Agreement) and minimum wage level (Fitzgerald 2006).The trade unions were often found to be ‘policing’ the skilled rate for the job, not onlyfor the direct interests of members but also to contain the early signs of antagonism tothe newly arrived groups of Polish workers. Ucatt also managed to assist someskilled Polish workers onto one main contractors core workforce with agreed rates ofpay and conditions secured. This situation was also identified with regard toengineering construction skill rates (the National Agreement for the EngineeringConstruction Industry), which were again being undermined through theintroduction by sub contractors of cheaper skilled workers from A8 countries(Fitzgerald, 2008). Here a union, in collaboration with the employer, has introduced alimited strategy of wage transparency to maintain the skilled rates.2.5 The final direct agency recruitment route was identified as the most prevalent.Here agencies are either directly employing Poles and then moving them fromworkplace to workplace as required (dominant in food processing); or provided asupply service for UK companies, with recipient companies becoming the finalemployer of Poles. A representative of the British Polish Chamber of Commerce(BPCC) in Poland noted that agencies had now become their largest single membergroup in Poland. The President of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain alsohighlighted the significance of agencies for UK recruitment in general and this viewwas echoed by a number of Polish regional respondents. Agencies have committedsome of the worst excesses of abuse of Polish workers and the BPCC representativestated that they were working with EURES in Poland to identify the worstperpetrators. In construction in the North West agencies provided the sole routeidentified for both skilled and unskilled labour. Whilst in food processing they againprovided the main route in both regions for mainly low skilled Polish workers.3. Discussion3.1 The rapid entry of Polish workers into the UK following their accession in May2004 caught everyone by surprise. Often these workers came either ‘on spec’ orSC/07-08/EA30through fraudulent agencies and were left destitute and/or exploited with the worstexcesses of a free market not uncommon and in some cases still remaining. From thePolish point of view this situation has improved with support networks forming, mostnotably around the web, the church, and through local UK activist from thetraditional Polish community (Fitzgerald 2008). Local NGOs (e.g. Citizens AdviceBureau), trade unions and some local councils have engaged with the new entrantsand provided valuable assistance. What was absent here was any form ofgovernment co-ordination at a local, regional or national level. In my opinion themigration is now consolidating with children and families arriving and employersand businesses (banks and other private service providers) all coming to terms andadapting to change. When we talk of Polish workers and skills, in many cases thismust be considered within the wider context of this overall story of recent EUaccession migration.3.2 Given the above it is clearly evident that a choice has to be made by UKGovernment and its agencies on how far to engage with this continued EU accessionmigration and its operation within a free European market. Often when we discussskills, we discuss the short-term or crisis management of skill needs. For example, inconstruction large subcontractors are under heavy financial pressures to delivercontracts on time. They in turn need skills, often on a project by project basis and dueto this a geographically mobile UK and European construction workforce hasemerged. However, in the North the evidence suggests that in recent years a newphenomenon has been introduced into this of not only posted workers7 on Polishconditions of service but also the open recruitment of teams of skilled workers paidbelow industry and minimum wage levels. This may initially not create issues forPolish or other A8 workers, and the contracts that they work on may be delivered ontime, but it most certainly creates issues on building sites and in local communitieswith indigenous workers who feel threatened. There are real concerns here thatwages and conditions will reduce if this becomes increasingly the norm. Trade unionofficials in food processing and transport have reported that this has started to occurand even spoke of indigenous workers being replaced by cheaper A8 workers (seeFitzgerald 2007b). If skilled Polish workers are to continue working in the UK thenco-ordination led by Government is needed, with properly policed regulations.3.3 A choice also exists for Government with regard to those Polish workerscurrently working in occupations below their current capabilities, training andqualifications. One of the most significant contributions that the trade union7 The Posted Workers Directive has caused much debate but has been used here to bring over A8workers, all of whom have been paid below the industry skilled rates and some below even theminimum wage (see Fitzgerald 2008)SC/07-08/EA30movement has made in supporting people to reach their full potential, assisting theskill needs of the labour market, is through the provision of union learningrepresentatives (ULRs). Funded by government, and often supported by employers,ULRs have encouraged and supported many to begin to develop not only their skillsin the workplace but also to take the first steps into further and higher education.ULRs have often used this experience to support Polish workers when they have comeinto workplaces and communities. Here in particular Poles have learnt English, oftenthrough Esol classes. However, these classes, frequently free to migrant workers, arenow being withdrawn, and are unlikely to be further supported as Esol provisionoften does not equate to enrolments on National Qualification Framework (NQF)courses8. This situation should be addressed as language can be an issue holding backmany Polish workers from making an increasing contribution to the UK economy. Ifthere is Government supported co-ordination then many Poles currently working inunskilled UK jobs can progress and make a fuller contribution to UK skill needs andour overall economy. Government may believe that the real issue here is the costeffectiveness of supporting transitory Polish workers. But if we do not adopt a co-ordinated approach are we to ‘brush this migration under the carpet’ with anotheropportunity missed, it should be remembered that the mobility of European workersis likely to continue and surely there is no going back.Ian Fitzgerald8 LSC (2007) Migrant Workers and the Labour Market: Review of LSC research on labour market participation,skills and skills provision for migrant workers, Learning and Skills Council report, January 2007.

The economic impact of immigration

Northumbria Research Link

SC/07-08/EA30
The Economic Impact of Immigration
This submission is in response to a request from the Clerk to the Economic Affairs
Committee for further information on migration to the North of England, with
particular reference to skills. It is an individual rather than School or University
response. The following comments are concerned with Polish migration and are
based on nearly three years accrued knowledge of Polish migrant workers following a
series of projects in the North of England that either I have undertaken myself1 or in
one case been part of a research team2. Although, this work has not sort to specifically
investigate the introduction of skilled Polish workers into the North of England I
consider that it provides a context into which many skilled Polish workers have been
introduced.
1. Background
1.1 Before discussing Polish migration to the North it is worth again highlighting the
importance of differentiation when discussing migrant groups. Not only within
groups themselves, for example around social class, gender and age, but also between
those like the Poles who are entitled to live and work in the UK with little restriction.
In contrast to other migrant groups who are often recruited via work permits or are
sometimes importantly undocumented within the labour market. It is also important
to record that for a number of reasons, most notably the easily accessible transport
links, the early signs are that the Poles are more transitory than many other prior
groups of migrant workers (Fitzgerald, 2008). Finally, the point must be made that as
with other early migrations to the UK Polish migration to the North is still
developing, as communities establish themselves and newly arrived workers decide
on what basis to remain and how secure they feel in their new surroundings.
1 Fitzgerald, I. (2008) A moving target: The informational needs of Polish migrant workers in Yorkshire and the
Humber, Leeds: Yorkshire and the Humber TUC; Fitzgerald, I. (2007a) An Analysis of the North East
Worker Registration Scheme Data, briefing paper for the Talent North East steering group, 3rd May 2007;
Fitzgerald, I. (2007b) Working in the UK: Polish migrant worker routes into employment in the North East and
North West construction and food processing sectors, London: TUC; Fitzgerald, I. (2006) Organising Migrant
Workers in Construction: Experience from the North East of England, Newcastle upon Tyne: Northern TUC;
Fitzgerald, I. (2005) Migrant Workers in the North East of England, Newcastle upon Tyne: Northern TUC.
2 Banks of the Wear (2007) Enterprise for BME Communities, Refugees and Migrants, One NorthEast.
SC/07-08/EA30
1.2 Salt and Millar (2006)3 describe the entry of the EU accession eight (A8) workers,
following May 2004, as the largest ever in-migration to the UK, with the Poles the
largest ever single ethnic group. This migration took all by surprise and left many at a
local level having to ‘fire-fight’ the numerous issues that have arisen. Migration has
been dramatic for many small towns and villages in the North, with the accession
monitoring reports stating that the North has a larger number of registered A8
workers than are registered in London and the South East. Although, following a
request through freedom of information4 it is clear that the North East has the lowest
number of registered A8s in England (Fitzgerald, 2007a).
1.3 With an increasing number of Polish workers in the North issues become not only
where people are living, for local service provision, but also where they are employed.
A growing amount of research; the accession monitoring reports; and my northern
studies highlight that this is often in low paid sectors such as food processing. It is
also clear, though, that Polish workers are ubiquitous and are evident in other more
skilled sectors and occupations, including even exploring the possibility of starting
new UK businesses (see Banks of the Wear, 2007). Importantly, for some of those in
lower skilled occupations, this may not be due to choice but more directly due to
either a lack of information on higher skilled work (Fitzgerald, 2008) or more
importantly a lack of language skills. In particular the Committee will also be aware
that though there has been progression with the mapping of Polish and UK
qualifications, this can still remain a barrier with job-to-job mobility. To begin to
unpick this further the following section discusses the recruitment of Polish migrant
workers in construction and food processing. It is clear, though, through discussions
with key respondents at an international, national and regional level that these sector
findings have some value when applied to the wider labour market.
2. Recruitment of Polish workers in the North
2.1 Although, still not fully granted, one of the four main freedoms of the European
Treaty is the right of mobility for European workers. As part of this the EU in 1993
created EURES to facilitate this movement and allow easier job-to-job mobility. This
should have helped facilitate skill needs at a regional and local level with assistance
given to both employers and European migrants. However, the reality found in the
North of England was that two of the three EURES advisers present, noted limited or
no engagement with the increasing number of Polish workers found in food
3 Salt, J. and Millar, J. (2006) ‘Foreign Labour in the United Kingdom: Current patterns and trends’,
Labour Market Trends, ONS, October 2006.
4 The accession monitoring reports confusingly combine the two RDA regions North East and
Yorkshire and the Humber into one ‘North East’ block.
SC/07-08/EA30
processing. Further, one of these advisers admitted that his recruitment engagement
with the overall numbers of A8 workers coming into his region had been limited
(Fitzgerald, 2007b). At a recent Polish government launch of a report into the
treatment of A8 migrant workers5, an EU official spoke of the need to reinforce the
role of EURES6. In the North it seems that often freedom of movement has been
exactly that, with limited co-ordination by government or other agencies in this
process. So if EURES are not the main facilitators of mobility how have Polish
workers found their jobs and how have companies managed their recruitment needs?
2.2 Fitzgerald (2007b) sort to explain this with regard to construction and food
processing in the North East and North West. Whilst the mapping of job-to-job
mobility was not the aim of the project, its findings with regard to recruitment have
relevance to other sectors in which Poles are working. The project uncovered three
main recruitment routes into employment: on-spec recruitment, direct company
recruitment; and direct agency recruitment. With no identifiable differences between
the introduction of skilled and unskilled labour.
2.3 On spec recruitment relates to Polish workers who have made the decision to
migrate to the UK to work without a particular job being offered. This type of
movement was identified as being prevalent in the early days of Polish accession
migration. With Poles having a vague idea of where to go and what job to take,
money was normally available for a short period to cope without a job. This was now
reported as becoming more structured with the use of family and friend networks to
identify both geographic and potential employment locations. Agencies and direct
employers were also beginning to use currently employed family and friends to
identify Polish based recruits when needed. The study indicates that in many cases if
people use this route now without a definite job offer they are more likely to arrive in
the UK with an idea of where to go and what to do (for example primed with
information from either websites or through family and friends). Although
information from these sources may be limited or simply incorrect. Further, with
wages in Poland still up to five times lower than in the UK job-to-job mobility may not
be people’s first requirement.
2.4 With direct company recruitment the study found that it was evident that
employers are beginning to use a number of resources to try to source Polish labour
5 Carby-Hall, J. (2007) The Treatment of Polish and Other A8 Economic Migrants in the European Union
Member States, report for the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection of the Republic of Poland.
6 Vignon, J. (2007) Drawing the lessons from the European year for workers mobility, presentation to the
‘Economic Migration in the European Union – Problems and Challenges’ conference, Warsaw 24th
September 2007.
SC/07-08/EA30
directly. For example, there are numerous web pages and Polish based newspapers
advertising UK jobs. It was reported that companies are moving away from using
Polish and beginning to use English for advertisements. In Poland it was reported
that job fairs were a common means of staff recruit. This was sometimes based on a
particular trade, for example bus drivers who were recruited on mass with UK union
collaboration due to local shortages (Fitzgerald 2005). In North West construction and
both food processing sectors this was not noted as an overall main recruitment
strategy. Although, in North East construction it was the main route into employment
for many of the Polish workers encountered. Here the most worrying signs regarding
skilled trades were evident. Sub contractors had directly recruited skilled workers
from Poland and introduced them onto building sites at wages below the national
industry (the Working Rule Agreement) and minimum wage level (Fitzgerald 2006).
The trade unions were often found to be ‘policing’ the skilled rate for the job, not only
for the direct interests of members but also to contain the early signs of antagonism to
the newly arrived groups of Polish workers. Ucatt also managed to assist some
skilled Polish workers onto one main contractors core workforce with agreed rates of
pay and conditions secured. This situation was also identified with regard to
engineering construction skill rates (the National Agreement for the Engineering
Construction Industry), which were again being undermined through the
introduction by sub contractors of cheaper skilled workers from A8 countries
(Fitzgerald, 2008). Here a union, in collaboration with the employer, has introduced a
limited strategy of wage transparency to maintain the skilled rates.
2.5 The final direct agency recruitment route was identified as the most prevalent.
Here agencies are either directly employing Poles and then moving them from
workplace to workplace as required (dominant in food processing); or provided a
supply service for UK companies, with recipient companies becoming the final
employer of Poles. A representative of the British Polish Chamber of Commerce
(BPCC) in Poland noted that agencies had now become their largest single member
group in Poland. The President of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain also
highlighted the significance of agencies for UK recruitment in general and this view
was echoed by a number of Polish regional respondents. Agencies have committed
some of the worst excesses of abuse of Polish workers and the BPCC representative
stated that they were working with EURES in Poland to identify the worst
perpetrators. In construction in the North West agencies provided the sole route
identified for both skilled and unskilled labour. Whilst in food processing they again
provided the main route in both regions for mainly low skilled Polish workers.
3. Discussion
3.1 The rapid entry of Polish workers into the UK following their accession in May
2004 caught everyone by surprise. Often these workers came either ‘on spec’ or
SC/07-08/EA30
through fraudulent agencies and were left destitute and/or exploited with the worst
excesses of a free market not uncommon and in some cases still remaining. From the
Polish point of view this situation has improved with support networks forming, most
notably around the web, the church, and through local UK activist from the
traditional Polish community (Fitzgerald 2008). Local NGOs (e.g. Citizens Advice
Bureau), trade unions and some local councils have engaged with the new entrants
and provided valuable assistance. What was absent here was any form of
government co-ordination at a local, regional or national level. In my opinion the
migration is now consolidating with children and families arriving and employers
and businesses (banks and other private service providers) all coming to terms and
adapting to change. When we talk of Polish workers and skills, in many cases this
must be considered within the wider context of this overall story of recent EU
accession migration.
3.2 Given the above it is clearly evident that a choice has to be made by UK
Government and its agencies on how far to engage with this continued EU accession
migration and its operation within a free European market. Often when we discuss
skills, we discuss the short-term or crisis management of skill needs. For example, in
construction large subcontractors are under heavy financial pressures to deliver
contracts on time. They in turn need skills, often on a project by project basis and due
to this a geographically mobile UK and European construction workforce has
emerged. However, in the North the evidence suggests that in recent years a new
phenomenon has been introduced into this of not only posted workers7 on Polish
conditions of service but also the open recruitment of teams of skilled workers paid
below industry and minimum wage levels. This may initially not create issues for
Polish or other A8 workers, and the contracts that they work on may be delivered on
time, but it most certainly creates issues on building sites and in local communities
with indigenous workers who feel threatened. There are real concerns here that
wages and conditions will reduce if this becomes increasingly the norm. Trade union
officials in food processing and transport have reported that this has started to occur
and even spoke of indigenous workers being replaced by cheaper A8 workers (see
Fitzgerald 2007b). If skilled Polish workers are to continue working in the UK then
co-ordination led by Government is needed, with properly policed regulations.
3.3 A choice also exists for Government with regard to those Polish workers
currently working in occupations below their current capabilities, training and
qualifications. One of the most significant contributions that the trade union
7 The Posted Workers Directive has caused much debate but has been used here to bring over A8
workers, all of whom have been paid below the industry skilled rates and some below even the
minimum wage (see Fitzgerald 2008)
SC/07-08/EA30
movement has made in supporting people to reach their full potential, assisting the
skill needs of the labour market, is through the provision of union learning
representatives (ULRs). Funded by government, and often supported by employers,
ULRs have encouraged and supported many to begin to develop not only their skills
in the workplace but also to take the first steps into further and higher education.
ULRs have often used this experience to support Polish workers when they have come
into workplaces and communities. Here in particular Poles have learnt English, often
through Esol classes. However, these classes, frequently free to migrant workers, are
now being withdrawn, and are unlikely to be further supported as Esol provision
often does not equate to enrolments on National Qualification Framework (NQF)
courses8. This situation should be addressed as language can be an issue holding back
many Polish workers from making an increasing contribution to the UK economy. If
there is Government supported co-ordination then many Poles currently working in
unskilled UK jobs can progress and make a fuller contribution to UK skill needs and
our overall economy. Government may believe that the real issue here is the cost
effectiveness of supporting transitory Polish workers. But if we do not adopt a co-
ordinated approach are we to ‘brush this migration under the carpet’ with another
opportunity missed, it should be remembered that the mobility of European workers
is likely to continue and surely there is no going back.
Ian Fitzgerald
8 LSC (2007) Migrant Workers and the Labour Market: Review of LSC research on labour market participation,
skills and skills provision for migrant workers, Learning and Skills Council report, January 2007.


http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/528/1/Fitzgerald%20I%20-%20The%20economic%20impact%20of%20immigration%20-%20report.pdf

The economic impact of immigration

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