Welcome debate on immigration needs to take into account recruitment difficulties faced by employers

Welcome debate on immigration needs to take into account recruitment difficulties faced by employers, and avoid risks of arbitrary quotas

The emerging debate about immigration policy must take into account the needs of employers struggling to deal with the consequences of a tight labour market, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

CIPD research shows high levels of recruitment from abroad, with employers using migrant labour to cover shortages of professional skills as well as filling low skill vacancies at a time of very low unemployment in the UK.

John Philpott, CIPD Chief Economist, said:
Immigration needs to be managed in a way that meets the needs of employers without compromising the wider interests of society by putting excess strain on housing, the environment and other social and economic infrastructure.

All the major political parties acknowledge this; what divides them, apart from rhetorical tone, is the chosen means of immigration control.

The Conservative proposal for a reformed system of work permits, based on an Australian style points-based assessment, is a perfectly reasonable policy option, as is continuation of the current Governmentís managed migration policy (which itself includes a points based system as part of the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme).

However, with regard to all such policies or proposals the devil is in the detail. Ultimately what matters is how well any particular policy is applied, implemented and enforced in practice. In particular, very careful scrutiny would need to be given to any proposal that included any form of arbitrary formal quota on migrant workers.

In a dynamic labour market it is virtually impossible to plan even relatively short-term employment needs with tight precision. Migration quotas either tend to be set so high as to be meaningless or so low that they frustrate employers and risk being breached and thus discredited. Quotas also involve costly enforcement machinery to counter the inevitable temptation to employ workers illegally. Resources would be better devoted to the effective management of the migration system itself.

CIPD research shows that very low levels of unemployment are creating significant skills shortages and causing real recruitment difficulties for employers. Many are looking overseas in their hunt for talent:

*Over half of all employers say professional vacancies (38%) and skilled trade vacancies (14%) have proved most difficult to fill in recent months.

*Almost one in three employers (28%) is planning to recruit workers from overseas to fill vacancies.

*Amongst larger companies (more than 500 employees), this figure rises to 40%.

*Recruitment from abroad varies from region to region - in London, 45% of employers intend to recruit from abroad, compared to only 13% in the North East.

*The public sector is most likely to turn to migrant workers - 34% of public sector employers are planning to do so, compared to 27% in the private sector and 24% in the not-for-profit sector.

*Three-quarters (75%) of employers are offering migrant workers permanent contracts, while less than 10% are offering only short-term or seasonal contracts.

*Professional skills (45%) and technical skills (22%) are the main attributes that employers are seeking from abroad.

Dr Philpott continued:
Skills shortages are forcing employers overseas as they struggle to fill vacancies. Recruitment of migrant workers has thus been acting as a safety valve against excessive wage pressure in the jobs market. This puts the heated political debate about immigration into perspective. Sensible reform is needed to balance the needs of employers against those of the wider society. But if rules are tightened in an arbitrary way, employers across business and government could suffer.

However, it is also important for those engaged in the policy debate to recognise that migrant workers, while essential in the current labour market, are a palliative for fundamental structural problems associated with skills shortages and the continued waste of millions of economically inactive people already resident in the UK. In the longer term, more investment is needed in training and welfare to work measures to address the skills and wider recruitment problems experienced by UK employers.