Thread by @STWolpers

1/ Today @LondonFirst launched our #GlobalBritain report. Because it is a long report and I don’t expect you all to read it, below as a (longish) thread the main points and recommendations
londonfirst.co.uk/news-publicati…

2/ With the UK due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019, there are many political and economic consequences that will require changes to policy: our approach to immigration is one of the most fundamental.

3/ Despite the uncertainty surrounding our departure, the Govt has made its intention to end Freedom of Movement for all citizens clear.
Whatever the politics, employers are pragmatic and recognise both the public’s & gov't's concerns about open borders

4/ Currently, 18% of all workers in the UK were born outside the country, in London, this number rises to 38%. With total employment being at an all-time high, losing any kind of extra labour supply has a negative impact.

5/ The UK labour market currently already boasts 1.01million unfilled vacancies, 337,000 have been hard-to-fill, but even more distressing is that 226,000 have not been filled despite being labeled as skills shortages, thus w/ lower hurdles for foreign labour to access

6/ Foreign workers are present at all skill levels doing their part to keep the economy growing. Excluding especially medium-skilled workers from a future Tier 2 would be economically harmful.

7/ Despite EEA workers being more dominantly represented in the medium and lower-skilled jobs, they on average contribute £2,380 more net annually to the public purse according to MAC research

8/ Net migration for EEA workers is rapidly falling, indicating the growing unattractiveness for them to work in the UK. All kinds of skilled immigration is needed and wanted in many other countries - and they have 27 others ones to easily move to.

9/ To ensure the UK stays attractive, it needs evidence-based policy goals and objectives for the employment of foreign workers - a sensible immigration system that takes the needs of the economy and employers into consideration!

10/ For the report we compared how other countries (AUS, CAN, GER, JPN, SE, CH) deal with labour shortages and work immigration, here are some of the lessons we learned:

11/ Blunt tools used to restrict the number of migrants, such as quotas and high salary thresholds, typically put a drag on the labour market by making it harder for employers to recruit for medium- and lower-paid jobs.

12/ Labour market tests can help to build confidence in the immigration system and mitigate potential negative impacts on existing workers and communities and can be designed in ways which do not create an excessive burden on employers.

13/ Requiring high minimum skills requirements, like academic degrees, that bear little relation to the range of unfilled vacancies in the country are of limited use if the demand for foreign workers is broad and ranges across various skill levels.

14/ Gov'ts typ. set an overarching objective for an immigration system,i.e attract skills in short supply or reduce overall immigration levels. This objective sets the tone domestically and shapes policies. It also communicates how open and welcoming a country is to the outside.

15/ One of the most important findings was around the current Tier2 salary threshold, which demands that foreign workers earn at least £30,000 to be eligible to work here. As you can see many jobs in the UK pay below. In fact, 64% of all UK workers are paid below £30,000.

16/ A hurdle to many foreign workers wanting to come here, are the UK’s high work permit fees. Much higher than in most other countries where they are simply an administrative fee (*does not include many other fees, like the Skills Charge & health surcharge that employers pay)

17/ So to help the @ukhomeoffice, @sajidjavid and @theresa_may to shape their new immigration policy for a post-Brexit economy, we set out a couple of recommendations:

18/ Evidence-led: abolish Tier 2 quota & net migration target, improve migration data and create an Office for Migration Responsibility (OMR) to act as an official independent migration agency evaluating, informing and proposing migration policy.

19/ Employer-led: set salary threshold at £20,155 p.a. (London Living Wage equivalent @LivingWageUK) widen the skills requirements to all jobs RQF3 and above and let foreign workers change jobs easier.

20/ Protect existing workers: maintain a labour market test for the new eligible skills levels, installing a ‘Swiss-style’ emergency brake if unemployment is higher than 8% for an occupation, ensuring foreign workers can't undercut avg. salaries of UK workers

21/ Dynamic Shortage List: Align the shortage list with the Industrial Strategy to ensure growth sectors can access the skills they need together with fast-tracked access to workers needed in essential sectors like health care

22/ And lastly - Streamlined system: fully digitise the system, remove red tape, create a light-touch sponsorship system that allows for third-party sponsors to support SME and start-ups, axing the skills charge

23/ Thanks for having read all the way to here - if you want to read even more follow this link to the whole report: londonfirst.co.uk/news-publicati…

@KateGreenSU @Stuart_McDonald @YvetteCooperMP we got many solutions to the questions you rightly asked @sajidjavid today in the HAC session - happy to brief you on our proposals!

@Douglas4Moray you might want to check out the report that we just launched - many solutions to your questions in the HAC

@mrjamesob this might be of interest to you - some more stats to talk about :)