Xinhua Finance London, December 12 (Reporter Zhang Yadong) For the British economy, which has fallen into weakness, the British Home Office recently announced the tightening of immigration policies and raising the immigration threshold, which will pose a serious negative impact on economic growth.
The UK's latest immigration policy raises the minimum annual wage for skilled overseas workers to £38,700, and overseas employees working in the health care industry will not be affected by this measure, but from next year, employees working in the UK will not be allowed to bring their dependents into the UK. Previously, the UK imposed similar restrictions on the accompanying persons of international students. The move is expected to reduce the number of immigrants in the UK by 300,000 a year.
The fundamental reason why the UK Home Office has significantly raised the immigration threshold is that at the beginning of this year, Sunak made curbing the growth of immigration one of its five priorities for this year. But by the end of the year, the effort had largely failed, and the expected goals could not be achieved. According to the Office for National Statistics, the net number of immigrants in the UK in 2022 was 7450,000 people. As of the end of June 2023, the UK's annual net migration rose to 6720,000 people. Previously, the rapid increase in the number of immigrants was suppressed, which was one of the main reasons driving the UK to leave the European Union. But now it seems that Brexit not only did not lead to a decline in the number of immigrants, but it did make the British people suffer from the serious disadvantages caused by Brexit, such as prices**. This puts great pressure on the people of the United Kingdom to curb the growth of immigration.
Driven by this pressure, the UK** will implement a stricter visa regime from next year. But the impact on the already weak UK economy cannot be underestimated, and the shock may soon be felt.
The talent shortage has become one of the serious obstacles for UK businesses to operate normally or expand their investment. The British Chamber of Commerce's previous survey of 5,000 UK companies on third-quarter hiring showed that nearly three-quarters of UK businesses are facing recruitment challenges. This situation is also a problem that Chinese companies in the UK need to face and solve. According to the 2023 UK Chinese Enterprise Development Report released by the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK, two-thirds of the Chinese enterprises surveyed in the UK said that they will face a shortage of professional skills in the next two years. Alex Veitch, Director of Policy at the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), noted, "There are almost a million job openings in the UK, and three-quarters of businesses are telling us they can't get the staff they need. This means that the company is unable to fulfill the order and is forced to reject new orders. Talent shortages reduce investment opportunities and hinder economic growth. ”
Alexandra Hall-Chen, chief policy adviser on skills and employment at the Institute of Directors in the UK, one of the UK's think tanks, pointed out that skills and labour shortages remain one of the biggest pain points faced by UK businesses, and the UK's tightening of immigration policies will increase the difficulties for businesses in this regard. The continued tightness of the UK labour market is a key reason for the high interest rates in the UK. Failure to effectively increase the domestic labor force** and restricting companies from hiring overseas workers could lead to a further increase in inflation stickiness and dampen economic growth.
The impact is likely to be even more severe for companies that rely heavily on overseas employees, such as the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and the hospitality industry. In England alone, there are 152,000 vacant caregiver jobs in the market. Caregiver vacancies mean inadequate public services and a decline in the level of care received by residents. Martin Green, chief executive of private care provider Care England, has warned that the latest immigration policy in the UK** will make it more difficult for care providers to recruit foreign workers. Care providers in the UK now rely heavily on international recruitment to address staffing shortages. If we want to move away from this, we must move quickly and invest in improving pay and employment conditions to drive domestic hiring.
Another shock of the UK's tightening immigration policy is that the UK's international education student pool will be reduced. According to a report by HEPI, an independent think tank that studies higher education in the UK, between 2018-19 and 2021-22, the benefits of international students to the UK economy rose from £31.3 billion to £41.9 billion, with London, Glasgow, Sheffield and Nottingham in the UK particularly benefiting from international students. However, one of the main reasons why international students choose to study in the UK is the relatively relaxed immigration policy. Now that the UK** has tightened its policies, the number of UK university graduates who will be able to immigrate to the UK after graduation will be significantly reduced, which will severely reduce the attractiveness of UK universities and thus reduce the number of international students. The decline in the number of international students will not only have an impact on the future supply of labour, but also have a potential impact on the financial pressures and research levels of UK universities.
Therefore, in the view of some institutions, the current tightening of immigration policy in the United Kingdom constitutes a direct negative for the weak economy. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said in its latest economic update** that 2024 will still be a tepid year for the UK economy and will likely remain as slow as this year. Due to inflation, talent shortages and other issues, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has increased the UK's economic growth in 2024 from the previous 18% slashed to 08%。Louise Hellem, chief economist at the Confederation of British Industry, pointed out that in order to boost economic growth, the UK needs to develop a long-term strategy to improve competitiveness, and it needs to increase talent development and solve the problem of labor shortage. Jane Gratton, Deputy Director of Public Policy at the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), pointed out that the shortage of skilled people has affected the UK's economic growth, and everything must be done to help businesses invest more in apprenticeships, technical education and upskilling people, and provide the opportunities and training that everyone who wants to work so desperately need.
Editor: Xing Lisha.
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