IMMIGRATION IN THE UK

They’re Taking our Jobs!

Mariel B

oat Experim

ent

1.5 milli

on A8 w

orkers

between M

ay 2004 and

September 2

009; in

2007, roughly half o

f all

immigra

nts were

A8

Virtually

no impact

on native w

ages, desp

ite

“downgra

ding”

A8 imm

igrants

60% less

likely

to get b

enefits or

tax c

redits

than nativ

es, and are

58% less

likely

to liv

e in so

cial h

ousing

http://

www.youtu

be.com

/watch

?v=eEPh_K

lTyII

The A8

Employment rate

s for A

8:

95% for m

en, 80% fo

r women

“Fru

stratio

n” afte

r communist

rule;

access

ion provided easie

r acc

ess

“Disa

rmingly posit

ive” ste

reoty

pe: are

‘keen, y

oung, white

people takin

g whate

ver work

is on offer a

nd going to ch

urch

every Sunday’

(Kohn, 2

007)

High unemploym

ent rate

at first

, but a

fter t

wo years

it

match

es or f

alls sh

ort of t

hat of n

atives

In the 3

rd quarter o

f 2009, u

nemploym

ent for n

ative

workers

was 7.8%, 1

2% for w

orkers

from

India,

Pakis

tan and B

angladesh, a

nd just

5% for E

ast

European w

orkers

2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/20090

50

100

150

200

250

National Allocations Numbers Granted to Polish Nationals

Pola

ndIn

dia

Slov

akia

Fran

ce

Roman

ia

Pakist

an

Aust

ralia

Italy

Lith

uani

a

Niger

ia0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

National Insurance number allocations

Employment

Jan-2001

Jan-2002

Jan-2003

Jan-2004

Jan-2005

Jan-2006

Jan-2007

Jan-2008

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

LondonUK

Immigration and Networks

“Migra

tion is

a phenomenon

roote

d in th

e decision-

making of n

etwork

s”

Immigra

tion is

a phenomenon that

affects all l

evels of s

ociety, fr

om

individual neighborh

oods to th

e global

economy

Social c

apital: i

ntangible, in

herent i

n the re

lationsh

ips

between th

e dyads of n

etwork

members

Inform

ation of (

real o

r pote

ntial)

linka

ges to

socio

econom

ically

importa

nt oth

ers (so

urces o

f socia

l

contro

l, fam

ily su

pport, or b

enefits)

Network

mem

bers use

socia

l capita

l to cr

eate eth

nic

niches o

r cluste

rs of jo

bs and re

sidentia

l space

s of

persons w

ho share

ethnic

identifiers

or oth

er com

mon

traits

Hub and Spoke Networks

Hub-spoke

relatio

nship is

governed by th

e network

’s

cultu

re of r

ecipro

city

Hub: vete

ran m

igrant w

ho colle

cts

informatio

n on how to im

migrate

and

uses i

t to help newco

mers get i

nto th

e

country

, find jo

bs, gain le

gal sta

tus,

etc. and m

anages the netw

ork’s

socia

l capita

l

Spokes:

new migra

nts whom

the hub ass

ists

Spoke

Spoke Spoke

Spoke

RESETTLEMENT

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

A Single Immigrant Hub-and-Spoke Module

Number of immigrants in a given location reaches a certain threshold

Cost and risks of migration decrease

Increased probability of new immigration to that location

So What?

The more

employed conta

cts

an immigra

nt has,

the m

ore

likely he/sh

e is to

be/become

employed

Both th

e quantity and quality

of an

immigra

nt’s netw

ork have dire

ct

resu

lts on th

eir eco

nomic su

ccess

Basically

…th

e more

thoro

ughly inte

grate

d an immigra

nt is

to th

eir netw

ork, t

he more

likely

they are

to be

economica

lly, s

ocially

, and psy

chologica

lly su

ccess

ful

Form

alizing im

migrant n

etwork

s that u

sually

already e

xist

organica

lly (a

nd incre

asing th

eir tra

nspare

ncy) c

ould be

beneficial fo

r every

one

People to Thank

Sumption, M

adeleine, and

Somerville

Will.

"The U

K." Equality

and Human R

ights Commiss

ion.

(2009):

1-54. P

rint.

Gordon, Ia

n, Tony T

ravers,

and Chris

tine

White

head. Unite

d Kingdom. London's

Place

in the U

K Economy:

2008-09. L

ondon: City

of

London, 2

009. Prin

t.

Bashi, V

ilna. S

urviva

l of t

he Knitt

ed. (Sta

nford: S

tanford

Unive

rsity

Press

, 2007).

Theguardian.co

.uk

“Do as t

he Neighbors

Do: The Im

pact of S

ocial N

etwork

s on Im

migrant

Employment,”

Fredrik

Anderss

on et al. I

nstitu

te fo

r the Stu

dy of L

abor,

September 2

009.

“Socia

l Capita

l or S

ocial C

losure

? Immigra

nt Netw

orks i

n the La

bor Marke

t,”

Roger Waldinger. L

ewis Cente

r for R

egional Polic

y Stu

dies, August

1997.

Hanson, G

ordon H

oward. T

he Economic

Logic

of Illegal Im

migratio

n.

(Council

on Fore

ign Relations,

2007).