Worsening economic conditions in the UK is one of the main reasons migrant workers are choosing to return to their home nation, according to a report published today by the Institute of Public Policy (IPPR).
The research found about half of the people who moved to the UK from the countries that joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 have already left the UK, and many more are expected to follow.
The IPPR estimates that one million migrant workers have come to Britain from the eight central and eastern European countries that joined the EU at that time. Polish nationals now comprise the largest population within this group.
The vast number of Polish migrants come to the UK for economic reasons but leave because they miss home and want to be with friends and family. Other factors influencing migrant workers from new EU member states in their decision to return home include the devaluation of the British Pound, says the IPPR. The devaluation of the Pound Sterling means that the gap between earnings in the UK and Poland are slimmer than ever.
The IPPR also said that the economic development in the new EU countries vastly improving in relation to the UK is likely to be a factor. Other reasons include diversion to other EU member states as immigration restrictions are slackened, and demographic patterns in post-enlargement countries in the late 1980s means there is a shrinking of the pool of migrants likely to come to the UK.
The migrants from new EU member states who are staying in the UK are generally not struggling to find work – the employment rate among this group is 84%, the highest of all immigrant groups and 9% higher than the UK-born average.
This research challenges the widely-held misconception that migrants are ‘flooding’ into the UK says Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, one of the report’s authors. “With fewer migrants in and more migrants out, the UK seems to be experiencing turnstiles, not floodgates,” he said.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008
