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    MIGRANT CAPITAL

    A PERSPECTIVE ON CONTEMPORARYMIGRATION IN LONDON

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    AUTHOR: Juan Camilo Cock, MRN

    JUNE 2010

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:This report was produced as part of a project funded by

    City Parochial Foundation.

    THE MIGRANTS RIGHTS NETWORK MRNis working for a rights-based

    approach to migration, with migrants as full partners in developing the policies and

    procedures which affect life in the UK.

    MRN aims to aims to strengthen the voice of migrants in discussion and debates,

    both civil society and with regional and national authorities. Bearing this in mind,

    MRN conducts research and projects to enable migrant community organisations to

    engage with key legislative and policy issues.

    Migrants Rights Network

    Royal London House

    22-25 Finsbury Square

    London EC2A 1DX

    www.migrantsrights.org.uk

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    Contents

    Foreword 02

    Executive summary 03

    1. Introduction: migration, mobility and a changing London 04

    2. Londons migrants today 10

    3. Policy issues arising from immigration in a global city 21

    4. Migration and governance 30

    5. Migrants in London and civil society organisations 34

    6. Migrants and public opinion in London 38

    7. Putting ideas into action making changes for London 43

    Bibliography 46

    Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

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    The role that migration has played in changing

    many aspects of life in Britain has been discussed in

    a more open fashion in recent years. The question

    why are the countries of Europe undergoing a

    new phase of large-scale migration? is being asked

    by just about everyone, from top politicians and

    policy makers, through to concerned and interested

    citizens.

    This report is a big part of the answer to that

    question. Immigration is re-emerging as a mass

    phenomenon because the prosperity of countries

    with open, liberal capitalist economies have built

    the movement of goods, services, capital and

    people into the very fabric of its system.

    Over the past 30 years Britain has emerged as

    the exemplar of this type of country. Its capital

    city, London, reigns at the royal court of those

    civic entities, alongside New York, Hong Kong,

    Paris, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Milan, Shanghai,

    Beijing and a growing list of others, whose role and

    function is to bring the global economy down from

    the heights of abstraction and into the real lives of

    millions of ordinary women and men.

    On the streets, in the factories and offices, the public

    services and even in our homes and family lives,

    immigration has been implicated into the largest

    and the smallest aspects of prosperity, welfare, our

    culture and the conviviality of existences as friends,

    neighbours, citizens and even as strangers. Thisreport provides a detailed and accurate description

    of what this looks like in London.

    Public discussion about migration is often

    polarising. People concerned about the pace and

    the extent of change want to know why no one

    asked them when it came to decisions which

    concerned the arrival of foreigners as migrants. The

    answer is that these decisions themselves came at

    the end of a long-chain of adjustments to the terms

    of world trade, adaptations to the competitiveness

    Foreword from the MRN director

    02 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    of international businesses, cost pressures affecting

    the way public and welfare services are organised,

    as well as the exercise of individual liberties

    concerning our own desires to move and who we

    choose as our partners in life.

    This report points to the unmistakable conclusion

    that migration is a phenomenon which cannot now

    be reversed without placing immense strains on thewelfare and well-being of our society. But it is far

    from being complacent about the character of the

    policy agenda which emerges from the business

    of living in an immigration society. Challenges

    exist at every level if the collective live of citizens

    and migrants is to produce anything resembling

    a good society. The report surveys the state of the

    social fabric of London and argues that a mutual

    acknowledgement of interests and rights, of both

    citizens and migrants, will be needed if we are to

    make progress.

    This focus on London is not intended to displace the

    importance of migration in other parts of the UK,

    where its recent impact has often been greater in

    short time than it has been in the capital city. But

    its does suggest that the richness of the experience

    of migration in this global city has generated ideas

    and resources that will make it possible to tackle the

    issue of living together much better in towns and

    communities which appear to be very different.

    The report is also one of the first pieces of work to

    emerge from MRNs Strengthening Migrants Rightsproject. We hope it will provide impetus to other

    contributions and perspectives from all the people

    who have a stake in this great public conversation.

    Don Flynn, MRN Director

    June 2010

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    London has a long history of receiving migrants

    from around the world. In the past few decades

    the fortunes of the city have been transformed by

    this movement of people. Immigration has been

    an essential part of the tremendous economic and

    demographic transformation of London. The citys

    post war reconstruction and, more recently, its post-

    industrial resurgence have relied heavily on migrant

    labour.

    In recent years immigration has made the city more

    competitive by providing a pool of talented labour

    from which to recruit for top positions and a flexible

    workforce willing to take up low paid jobs. Thanks

    to migration London has also become one of the

    most cosmopolitan and diverse cities in the world.

    However, immigration legislation has increasingly

    differentiated between migrants, opening up

    possibilities to some while restricting rights and

    entitlements to others.

    Today, a third of Londons residents were born

    abroad and over 40 percent of the UKs migrants

    live there. The areas of the city where migrants

    concentrate and the countries of origin of migrants

    have greatly diversified. Migrants in London live

    throughout the city, come from a multiplicity

    of countries, have varying immigration statuses

    and are distributed in all sectors of the economy.

    However, some sectors of Londons economy,

    especially low paid jobs, have become almost

    completely dependent on foreign-born labour.

    Even though overall migrants are estimated to

    make higher proportional fiscal contributions than

    non-migrants, there is still wide concern about

    service provision and other policy implications of

    immigration. In general the impact of immigration

    03 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    on services is mixed with clear future implications

    in areas such as housing, health and labour

    market. However, due to problems with population

    estimates which are used for allocating local

    funding, London local authorities are not being

    properly funded to respond to the challenges.

    Official responses to immigration and migrants

    in terms of strategic planning, coordination ofservices and enforcement have increasingly

    become regionalised. In the capital, the London

    Strategic Migration Partnership has assumed these

    responsibilities. On the other hand, civil society

    organisations such as trade unions, charities,

    migrant community organisations and broad

    based alliances have undertaken service delivery,

    support and advocacy activities on issues that affect

    migrants.

    London is a city where public opinion expresses its

    appreciation and pride of diversity. Even though

    there clearly is division on the amount of concern

    about the recent levels of immigration, there is less

    support in London for restrictive policies than in the

    rest of the UK.

    In this context there is an opportunity for migrants

    and those working on migrants issues in London

    to play an increased role in the decisions that

    affect their lives. Through networking and effective

    communication migrant community organisations

    and support groups have the possibility to engageon strategic and coordination issues through the

    regional structures being set up at the London level

    in order to achieve more progressive approaches

    towards migrants and immigration.

    Executive summary

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    04 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    1. Introduction: migration, mobility and a changing London

    Key points:

    y Global migration patterns are shaped largely by economic and political processes.

    y In the past few decades industrial production has declined in developed countries

    while global finance has expanded, especially in key cities. In London it has been

    replaced by a rapidly expanding financial services sector.

    y Partly for this reason London has received a larger proportion of migrants than

    the UK as a whole.

    y Londons economic success and global role is inextricably linked to immigration.

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    London has a very long history of migration, having

    throughout the centuries received inflows ofinvaders, refugees, businessmen, students, artists

    and labourers. In the period from the 1950s onward

    immigration has been an essential component of

    the citys development, first in slowing down and

    eventually reversing the population decline of

    the city and, second, to rebuild its infrastructure

    and economy following the destruction brought

    about by the Second World War. More recently,

    having been transformed into a global city at

    the heart of major transformations in the world

    economy, London has become a magnet for avariety of mobile populations including students,

    businesspeople and workers, and has continued to

    be a refuge for persecuted people.

    Recent years have also seen, however, growing

    unease in the UK at contemporary levels of

    immigration. Since the 1960s successive legislation

    has been introduced and measures have been taken

    to restrict, control and manage the number and

    the characteristics of those entering the country.

    Despite these efforts, migration has continued

    to grow, shifting its contours but, if anything,

    increasing in size and diversity. The result in London

    is a city whose present composition is the outcome

    of previous migrations and that continues to be

    transformed, a city where today one out of three

    residents was born abroad.

    Recently, the government has found itself

    trapped between conflicting interests in the

    immigration debate: on the one hand there

    is an acknowledgement that immigration can

    bring, and has brought, considerable economicbenefits to the British economy. Similarly, the

    UK has to uphold its commitment to a common

    labour market in the European Union and to the

    protection of persecuted people. On the other

    hand, sectors of the media and public opinion

    have become sceptical about the benefits of

    immigration, expressing a wish for the inflows and

    net immigration figures to be significantly curbed.

    The government has responded to these conflicting

    trends by introducing successive legislation

    aimed at increasing control over the numbers and

    05 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    characteristics of migrants in order to allow entry

    only to those individuals that will most benefitthe economy. At the same time it introduced new

    measures to keep out migrants who do not comply

    with the desired qualities.

    These efforts to manage who enters the UK have left

    a legacy of individuals with multiple legal statuses

    and varying rights and entitlements. Furthermore,

    restrictions have not stemmed the flow of people

    but have led to a significant number of persons

    living in the UK without a legal status or in breach

    of their visa conditions. The picture is therefore oneof continuing high levels of immigration but also

    an increasing fragmentation of migrants according

    to the conditions on which they enter and stay

    in the country. The types of status that migrants

    hold vary significantly, including earlier waves of

    migrants and their family members who are now

    (or always were) British citizens, European passport

    holders exercising freedom of movement and work

    within the EU, students with limited rights to work,

    people with work visas (high skilled and for specific

    sectors), asylum seekers with restricted rights and

    irregular migrants.

    The economic base of the whole of the UK,

    including London, has been transformed since

    the 1970s through the decline of manufacturing,

    but London has been especially successful in

    reinventing itself as a centre of finance, business,

    tourism, the arts and other advanced services.

    There is evidence that immigration has made

    Londons economy more competitive at the top and

    bottom ends of the labour market: at the top end

    by recruiting a talented workforce and bringing inworkers with skills for which there is a shortage; at

    the bottom end of the labour market by providing

    a flexible labour supply that keeps wages low for

    employers.

    There is no escaping the fact that Londons

    economy relies on migrants as part of its workforce

    more than other UK regions. Immigration has also

    brought benefits beyond the economic impact.

    A lot of people appreciate the diversity and

    cosmopolitanism that comes as a result of people

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    from many backgrounds living in the same city and

    London actively prides itself of being a city wherethe whole world is represented.

    The major concern with immigration seems to

    originate in the perceived effects it has had on the

    livelihoods of settled Londoners. These include the

    effect of immigration on labour markets, housing

    markets and pressures on service provision.

    Immigration is often used as an easy explanation

    for some of the problems affecting the capital.

    The evidence of the impact of immigration on

    some of these areas, however, seems to be mixed.When looked at more closely, there are a number

    of factors affecting labour and housing markets

    and service provision, and immigration is often not

    the main influencing factor. The negative effects

    of immigration policies aimed at controlling and

    managing immigration are also most acutely felt in

    London. In a city full of contradictions it is perhaps

    not surprising that London seems to get some of

    the largest benefits from immigration, but at the

    same time has a disproportionate share of the

    problems arising from policies aimed at controlling it.

    Mobility in the contemporary world:freedom for capital, restrictions forworkers

    Since 1960 the number of migrants worldwide

    has increased by more than one and half times

    from an estimated 75 million persons to 214

    million persons in 2009. This figure, however, still

    means that only around 3 per cent of the worlds

    population live in countries different to the onethey were born in. However, international migration

    is not evenly spread throughout the world. Sixty

    percent of migrants are estimated to live in more

    developed regions where migrants also constitute

    a much larger proportion of the total population.1

    Furthermore, within reception countries migrants

    tend to be more concentrated in some areas than

    others. Global flows of migrants tend to be linked,

    on one hand, to economic processes, moving from

    poor areas of the world to rich or economically

    growing areas, and, on the other hand, to political

    turmoil and conflict, with large populationmovements taking place as a consequence of war

    and persecution.

    As economies have become progressively

    integrated and deregulated and capital has become

    increasingly mobile, inequality has also increased

    both between and within countries. Individuals

    challenge this trend towards inequality by moving

    to work in areas with better wages and stronger

    labour demand. At the same time, economically

    developed countries have tried to defend theinterests of their own populations and their

    redistributive policies by closing down their borders

    and having a strict control over who comes in and

    who does not. The stark reality of global economic

    inequality and the demand for cheap labour in

    advanced economies means that individuals

    continue to migrate for work despite restrictions. As

    a consequence of these contradictions migration

    has become polarised. It is facilitated for highly

    qualified workers and those with specific skills and

    at the same time restricted for low-skilled workers

    and people seeking asylum. As a consequence

    of this, the effectiveness of immigration controls

    and breaches of the rules have become major

    contemporary issues for states, migrants and

    public opinion in developed countries. Put simply,

    more mobility plus more restrictions equals more

    breaches of migration law.2

    London lies at heart of these contradictions. It is

    a city with a long history of migration, a global

    financial centre offering services to clients across

    the world and a leading developer of many of theinstruments that have helped bring down barriers

    and integrate the worlds economies. London is

    by far the main recipient of migrants in the UK,

    including highly paid skilled workers and unskilled

    labour. But it is also the area that concentrates the

    largest number of those who have fallen foul of

    immigration legislation.

    1United Nations Department

    of Economic and Social Affairs,

    Population Division, 2009,

    International Migration.

    2Jordan, Bill and Franck

    Duvell, 2002, Irregular

    Migration: The dilemmas

    of transnational mobility,

    Cheltenmham: Edward Elgar.

    06 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

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    From imperial capital to global city

    and centre of finance

    London has for a long time been an important

    centre of reception of immigrants, ranging from

    groups of Eastern European Jewish refugees and

    Irish labourers in the late nineteenth and early

    twentieth century to the large scale post-war

    migration of workers from the Caribbean islands,

    South Asia and Cyprus. The fact that London has

    tended to receive more migrants than other areas

    of the UK can be partly explained in that it is the

    largest city in the country with a long imperiallegacy. However, the concentration in London

    of international migrants and ethnic minority

    populations descending from migrants increased

    significantly in the last two decades of the twentieth

    and into the twenty-first century largely as a

    consequence of the transformation in the British

    and global economies.

    The large-scale migration of people from the

    Commonwealth countries between the 1950s and

    early 1970s occurred in a period when many of the

    traditional British industrial centres still demanded

    labour for manufacturing. The demand for labour

    for the post-war reconstruction effort and to staff an

    expanding national public sector also drove these

    migrations. Even though London received a larger

    share of migrants than other areas of the UK, post-

    war migrants also settled in large numbers in many

    of the industrial centres of the Midlands and the

    North of England.

    However, since the 1980s many of these industrial

    centres have been in decline and the demand forlabour in manufacturing dwindled. The decline

    of the economic base of some of the northern

    manufacturing cities was mirrored by a shrinking of

    the manufacturing sector in London. However, at

    the same time the financial and specialised services

    sectors in London grew significantly, giving a new

    dynamism to its economy.3

    From the 1980s onward there has been a global

    transition towards deregulation and globalisation

    through the partial dismantling of trade barriers,

    tariffs and regulations and an increase in world

    trade arising from lower costs in communicationand transport. Production plants in the developed

    economies have shut down as corporations, in

    their search for increased profitability, relocated

    or outsourced their production to areas of the

    world that offered lower costs. The traditional

    industrial centres of Europe thus entered a period of

    economic decline.

    At the same time, the dispersal of operations across

    multiple locations and the increased importance of

    finance in the world economy meant that a handfulof cities emerged as command and control centres

    for global production, specialising in the production

    of innovations and services to support and

    coordinate the global operations of corporations.

    London has established itself as one of the most

    important of these global cities that are key nodes

    in the globalised economy.4The deregulation

    of finance and the scaling back of state welfare

    also increased the national demand for financial

    services as individuals were required to take greater

    responsibility for their own housing, pensions,

    health care and education.5

    Thus, while the manufacturing base of most

    British cities was declining, Londons financial and

    services sectors, often linked to global production

    and finance, expanded to become an essential

    part of the economy of the city. The changes have

    been dramatic. Until the 1960s about one third of

    Londons workforce was employed in manufacturing

    and one in ten worked in finance and business

    services. Between 1961 and 1981 the number

    of manufacturing jobs in London fell by over 50percent and by a further 50 per cent in the next

    decade.

    On the other hand, financial and business services

    jobs grew by almost 30 per cent in the 1980s. By

    1999 finance and business services accounted for

    one in three jobs while manufacturing accounted

    for less than one in ten.6In 2009 less than four

    percent of jobs in London are in manufacturing

    while the proportion of employees working in

    financial and insurance activities is more than

    3Hamnett, Chris, 2003,

    Unequal City: London in

    the Global Arena, London:Routledge.

    4Sassen, Saskia, 2001, The

    Global City: New York, London,

    Tokyo, Princeton: Princeton

    University Press.

    5Massey, Doreen, 2007, World

    City, Cambridge: Polity Press,

    41.

    6Hamnett, Chris, 2003,

    Unequal City: London in

    the Global Arena, London:

    Routledge.

    07 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

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    Today, London has a preeminent role in the

    British economy. In the ten years leading up to2007 London had the largest regional economic

    growth in the UK and its average yearly economic

    performance increased by a fifth more than the

    national rate. In 2007 London accounted for 21

    per cent of the countrys economic output.10While

    the convenience of this degree of centralisation

    is debatable, there is no doubt that London

    concentrates a disproportionate share of the UKs

    economy.

    The turnaround in Londons economic fortuneshas been facilitated by the inward movement of

    people from abroad and this dynamism has in

    turn attracted further movement of people into

    London. Until the late 1980s Londons population

    was declining as people left to live in other areas of

    the UK. From a peak of 8.6 million residents in 1939,

    Londons population fell to 6.73 million in 1988.11

    Since then significant numbers of people have

    continued to relocate to other regions or abroad,

    but international migration and an increasing birth

    rate have reversed this trend.12

    7LSE, 2009, Londons Place

    in the UK Economy, 2009-10,

    London: LSE.

    8Hamnett, 2003, Unequal

    City: London in the Global

    Arena, London.

    9May, Jon, Jane Wills, Kavita

    Datta, Yara Evans, Joanna

    Herbert and Cathy McIlwaine,

    2007, Keeping London

    working: global cities, the

    British state and Londons new

    migrant division of labour,

    Transactions of the Institute

    of British Geographers 32:151-167.

    10Calculated in terms of Gross

    Value Added (GVA). Londons

    annual average GVA increase

    1997-2007 was 6. 3 per cent

    compared with the national

    average of 5.3 percent.

    11Piggott, Gareth (ed.) Focus

    on London 2009, London: GLA.

    12LSE, 2009, Londons Place

    in the UK Economy, 2009-10,

    London: LSE.

    08 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    twice as large as that of the rest of the country.

    The proportion of the workforce employedin professional, technical, information and

    communication activities is also larger in London

    than in other areas.7

    The transformation in Londons economy has

    therefore been accompanied by a concurrent

    shift in its occupational structure, which has

    been marked by a decline of manual labour and a

    growth in professional, managerial and technical

    occupations. In general there has been a trend in

    London for a larger proportion of people to beemployed in well-paid jobs. At the same time wages

    have increased much faster amongst top earners

    than in low paid occupations, increasing the levels

    of inequality in the city.8While some studies have

    argued that the trend has been for the proportion

    of workers in low-paid jobs to remain stable, recent

    research indicates that alongside a growth in the

    proportion of workers in top paying jobs there has

    been an important increase in the proportion of

    workers in the lowest paid jobs in London.9This

    growth in jobs at both the top and lower end of

    the pay scale has come at the expense of tens of

    thousands of moderately well paid jobs that were

    lost in the manufacturing industries.

    1200000

    900000

    600000

    300000

    1

    973

    1

    977

    1

    981

    1

    985

    1

    989

    1

    993

    1

    997

    2

    001

    2

    005

    FIG. 1. NUMBER OF PEOPLE EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURING AND BUSINESS SERVICES

    IN LONDON 19712007

    Source: GLA and Experian Business Strategies data

    Business services

    Manufacturing

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    13Ibid.

    14Kyambi, Sarah, 2005,

    Beyond Black and White:

    Mapping new immigrant

    communities, London: IPPR.

    15A8 is used to refer to the

    group of eight countries that

    joined the EU in 200 4 and

    for which most countries in

    the EU adopted movement

    restrictions for a transitional

    period: Estonia, Latvia,

    Lithuania, Poland, CzechRepublic, Slovakia, Hungary

    and Slovenia. The UK allowed

    the movement of migrant

    workers from these countries

    under condition that they

    signed up to a Worker

    Registration Scheme.

    16Wilson, Alan and Mike

    Phillips, 2009, Regional

    Economic Performance:

    A migration perspective,

    Economics Paper 4, London:

    Communities and Local

    Government.

    09 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    The main feature of Londons changing population,

    however, is its turnover. As well as large numbersmoving into London, many people move

    out. Between 2001 and 2007 London had net

    international immigration rates of between 50,000

    and 94,000 persons per year. However, since 2001,

    except for one year, the net movement of people

    out of London to other areas of the UK has been

    larger than the net numbers of people moving

    in from abroad. London therefore loses more

    people to other areas of the UK than it gains from

    international migration.13

    In the inter-census period of 1991-2001, the number

    and proportion of immigrants in London grew

    faster than in other areas of the country. London

    accounted for nearly half of the total UK increase of

    1.1 million foreign born people during that period.14

    Since 2001, the concentration of recent arrivals

    in London has decreased due to two factors. The

    first was that the 1999 Immigration and Asylum

    Act limited the choice of where to live for asylum

    seekers that received public support, dispersing

    them to specific locations across the UK. The second

    factor was that a significant proportion of Eastern

    European migrants coming into the UK following

    the accession of the A815countries to the EU filled in

    gaps in labour in the service and agricultural sector

    throughout the country. In the case of these, it has

    been estimated that London received 15 per cent

    of A8 workers since 2004, which is still the highest

    proportion for any region but much lower than

    the historic concentration of migrants in London.16

    Despite this, London continues to receive a

    disproportionate amount of migrants. Furthermore,

    since the onset of the credit crunch figures suggestthat the importance of London as a destination for

    A8 workers has increased significantly.

    Historically, London has had a larger share of

    migrants than the rest of the UK not only due to itscondition as the largest city, its cosmopolitanism

    or because it had previous settlement of many

    communities. These have surely been important

    factors, but since the 1970s the global economic

    restructuring has played an important role in

    Londons and the UKs migrant flows. On one hand,

    the traditional manufacturing centres that had

    received a lot of the migrant workforce declined. On

    the other hand, London emerged as a key player in

    the UKs and the worlds financial system. Therefore,

    up to a point, Londons fate diverged from thatof other areas and became much more tied to an

    international network of financial and corporate

    centres. The labour market that characterises global

    cities subsequently allowed the city to receive,

    and in some sectors become dependent, on large

    numbers of migrants.

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    10 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    2. Londons migrants today

    Key points:

    y The countries of origin of migrants to London have diversified in the past two

    decades, but Europe and Commonwealth countries continue to be the most

    important sources.

    y Migrants in the UK are concentrated in London. One third of Londons population

    was born abroad and 40 percent of the UKs migrants live in London.

    y There is great diversity between and within Londons migrant groups.

    y An estimated 43 percent of migrants in London have British citizenship and

    therefore have no restrictions on movement, rights and entitlements.

    y The proportion of Londoners who are not British or EU nationals is 13 percent.

    y Migrants are unevenly distributed in London, with some areas of inner London

    having high proportions and some areas, especially in outer London, with very

    low proportions.

    y London has become a very diverse city but there is little evidence of ethnic

    ghettos.

    y Migrants are an important part of Londons workforce in all sectors but recently

    arrived migrants have become essential in Londons low paid jobs such as

    cleaning, care work and hospitality.

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    Who are Londons migrants?

    As a result of the processes described in the

    previous section, London has ended up harbouring

    a disproportionate number of migrants within the

    UK, with levels of migration similar to those of other

    immigrant cities such as New York. An estimated

    two and a half million migrants lived in London in

    2008. While London accounts for 12 per cent of the

    total British population, it is home to 38 per cent of

    all foreign born residents in the UK.17That means

    that four out of every ten migrants in the UK live in

    London. Similarly London is the area of the country

    11 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    The presence in London of large numbers of

    migrants from specific countries can be attributedto a number of factors. These include historical

    factors, economic disparities, cultural and linguistic

    affinity, the existence of social networks and border

    controls. None of these on their own explain the

    general patterns of migration but they all play an

    important role.

    The historical links of the UK with its former

    imperial territories, for example, has been a major

    factor in shaping the places of origin of migrants,

    especially in the post-war years. Thus, New and Old

    TABLE 1. POPULATION BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH

    2004 200708 2004 200708 2004 200708 2004 200708

    United Kingdom 53,807 53,869 5,147 5,040 91.1 89.3 70.4 67.0

    Non-United Kingdom 5,233 6,486 2,168 2,487 8.9 10.7 29.6 33.0

    Republic of Ireland 452 416 124 111 0.8 0.7 1.7 1.5

    EU 13 768 842 254 281 1.3 1.4 3.5 3.7

    EU A8 167 650 85 73 0.3 1.1 1.2 2.3

    EU 26 1,492 2,052 516 640 2.5 3.4 7.1 8.5

    Rest of the World 3,741 4,434 1,652 1,848 6.3 7.3 22.6 24.3

    Source: Focus on London 2009

    THOU SAND S PERC ENTAGE S

    UNITED KINGDOM LONDON UNITED KINGDOM LONDON

    17Piggott, Garreth (ed.),

    2009, Focus on London 2009,

    London: GLA, p30.

    18 Ibid.

    19Spence, Lorna, 2003, Third

    country nationals living in

    London 2000/01: A profile of

    Londoners who have non-EU

    nationality based on analysis

    of Labour Force Survey data,

    DMAG briefing 2003/06,

    London: GLA.

    with the highest proportion of migrants. Thus,while in the UK as a whole migrants make up 11

    per cent of the population, 33 out of every 100

    Londoners are migrants.18In London, therefore,

    migrants have a much more significant presence

    than in the rest of the country. Non-EU migrants

    are even more concentrated in the capital,

    with over half of them living in London, and

    migrants from certain nationalities are even more

    concentrated.19

    Commonwealth countries have been the majorsources of migrants to the UK. Even as immigration

    reform has attempted to restrict the movement of

    people from the former imperial territories to the

    UK, the existence of settled communities from those

    countries and affinities in the education system

    have continued to attract migrants from those areas.

    Therefore, with the exception of Poland, in 2006 the

    top ten largest migrant groups in London were from

    either Commonwealth countries or Ireland.

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    Caribbean. However, even though London receives

    people from across the globe, coming from rich andpoor countries, more people come from developing

    countries than from high income countries (70 and

    30 per cent respectively at the time of the 2001

    census).23

    These changes point to the globalisation and

    diversification of immigration, with newcomers

    arriving from across the globe. The migrant

    population of London is therefore very diverse with

    lots of variations between and within groups. For

    example, even though overall the gender balance

    20Piggott, Garreth, 2006,

    National Insurance Number

    Registrations of Overseas

    Nationals in London, DMAG

    Briefing 2006/24, London: GLA.

    21 LSE, 2007, The Impact of

    Recent Immigration on theLondon Economy, London:

    City of London.

    22Mackintosh, Marian, 2005,

    London the world in a

    city, DMAG Briefing 2005/6,

    London: GLA.

    23Spence, Lorna, 2005,

    Country of Birth and Labour

    Market Outcomes in London:

    An analysis of Labour Force

    Survey and Census Data,

    DMAG Briefing 2005/1,

    London: GLA.

    12 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    Another major source of migrants is the EU

    countries, where freedom of movement betweenmember states has facilitated the crossing of

    borders. France, Italy, and Germany are all amongst

    the top twenty countries of origin of migrants in

    London. The Irish, who occupy a special position

    because their right to live and work in the UK had

    been secured by the provisions of the Special Travel

    Area agreement prior to Irelands accession into the

    EU, remain the largest group of European migrants

    in London. Similarly, since the enlargement of

    the EU in 2004, and the subsequent freedom of

    movement and work for citizens of eight newcountries, Poland has been the largest source of

    migrants to London. In 2005/2006 around 16 per

    cent of all national insurance number registrations

    of foreign born people in London came from Polish

    migrants, doubling the number of registrations from

    the second largest country of origin, India.20

    Therefore, Commonwealth and European countries

    continue to have the largest migrant populations

    in London. However, in the past couple of decades

    migration flows have diversified considerably.

    Significant numbers of migrants have arrived

    from other areas of the Global South attracted

    by the wage differentials between Europe and

    their countries of origin, expelled by conflicts and

    political upheaval or, often, by a combination of

    these factors. This diversification is evident in the

    decline of the relative weight of the main countries

    of origin since the 1980s. In the mid 1980s over half

    of Londons foreign born population came from just

    six countries. By 2006 the weight of these countries

    had decreased and fifteen countries of origin

    were needed to account for half of the migrantpopulation. The share of migrants from former

    colonies also decreased from 76 to 59 per cent.21The

    fact that in 2001 there were 42 countries which had

    migrant communities of over ten thousand living

    in London attests to the great diversity of places of

    origin of migrants.22

    In terms of regions, Europe is the area with the

    largest number of migrants with 30 per cent,

    followed by Africa (23 per cent), the Indian

    subcontinent (17 per cent) and the Americas and

    TABLE 2. LONDONS LARGEST MIGRANT

    GROUPS AND THEIR POPULATIONS

    COUNTRY OF ORIGIN 2006 2001

    India 204000 172661

    Bangladesh 133000 84565

    Ireland 122000 157285

    Jamaica 87000 80319

    Nigeria 82000 68907

    Poland 76000 22224

    Kenya 68000 66311

    Sri Lanka 67000 49932

    South Africa 66000 45603

    Ghana 62000 46513

    Somalia 59000 33831

    USA 51000 44622

    Pakistan 49000 66658

    France 49000 38206

    Australia 47000 41488

    Turkey 45000 39128

    Germany 43000 39818

    Italy 41000 38694

    Cyprus No data 45888

    New Zealand No data 27494

    Sources: For 2006, Spence, 2008, based on Annual Population Survey

    estimates; for 2001, Spence, 2005, based on census

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    24Ibid., Spence, Lorna, 2008,A Profile of Londoners by

    Country of Birth: Estimates

    from the 2006 Annual

    Population Survey, DMAG

    Briefing 2008-05, London:

    DMAG.

    25Ibid.

    26However, this will probably

    change with legislation that

    is currently going through

    parliament which will limit

    most welfare and benefit

    rights to British citizens.

    13 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    of the migrant population is similar to that of

    London as a whole (with 52 per cent of migrants

    being women compared to 50 per cent for London

    as a whole ), there are some nationalities that

    have a strong gender imbalance. The proportion

    of women ranges from a low of 29 per cent for

    Algerians to a high of 80 per cent from Slovakia.24

    This profile partly depends on the patterns of

    migration and employment that different groups

    have followed. Similarly, there are great disparities

    between groups in terms of levels of employment

    and unemployment and in the sectors of the

    economy that they work in. The migrant population

    of London does, however, tend to be much more

    skewed towards working age than the overall

    population.

    Londons migrants can also be grouped according

    to their citizenship and immigration status, a factor

    that influences their rights and entitlements. From

    the one third of Londoners who were born abroad,a substantial proportion have acquired (or arrived

    with) British citizenship and thus, in terms of status,

    are not migrants any longer. According to 2006

    figures, 43 per cent of migrants in London are UK

    nationals.25In terms of nationality, therefore the

    proportion of non-British people living in London

    in 2007 was estimated to be 20 per cent, which is

    a third lower than the proportion of those born

    abroad. Similarly, migrants who have acquired

    permanent residency will be entitled to much the

    same rights and access to services and support that

    citizens have.26

    People from the EU also have most of the same

    rights and entitlements as British citizens. In the

    case of persons from the eight countries that joined

    the EU in 2004, there are some requirements to

    register to work and to be employed for a period of

    time, but after that they too have access to welfare

    and most rights. People with EU nationality make up

    more than a third of non-British London residents.

    That means that the proportion of people living

    in London who are neither British nor European,

    and therefore are more likely to be subject to

    immigration controls and/or have restrictions on

    rights and entitlements is estimated to be about 13

    per cent.

    Amongst those migrants who are neither British

    or European nationals, nor permanent residents,

    there are also a variety of immigration categories

    with varying conditions attached to them. There

    are people who are on work visas which may have

    restrictions attached to them, especially on the typeof employment they can carry out. There are also

    people on student visas, which is a temporary status

    and who can work a limited amount of hours and

    have restrictions on access to welfare.

    There are people who have applied for asylum and

    whose cases have not been resolved or are in the

    process of appealing. The rights of asylum seekers

    have been progressively eroded in an attempt to

    reduce the number of applications which peaked

    in 2002. One of these restrictions, introduced by

    1986 2006

    Foreign born population 1.17 mil 2.23 mil

    Proportion of total 17.6% 30.5%

    Share coming from former British territories 76% 59%

    Dominant origins: number of countries accounting 6 countries: Ireland, India, Kenya, 15 countries: previous six and

    for half of migration population Jamaica, Cyprus and Bangladesh Nigeria, Poland, Sri Lanka, USA

    Ghana, Pakistan, Somalia, Turkey

    and South Africa

    Source: LSE 2007

    TABLE 3. MA IN SOURCES O F MIGRANTS IN 1986 AND 2006

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    support nationally. That means that 15 per cent of

    asylum seekers in receipt of public support live inLondon.28It is not clear, however, what proportion

    of individuals move into London once their cases

    have been decided favourably or refused.

    Finally, there is an indeterminate number of people

    who do not have a valid immigration status to

    reside and work in the UK or who are in breach of

    their conditions of stay. A recent report estimates

    the number of irregular migrants in the UK to be

    between 417 thousand and 863 thousand, with a

    central estimate of 618 thousand. It estimates that72 per cent of these are in London, which would

    have between 281 thousand and 630 thousand

    irregular migrants, with a central estimate of 442

    thousand. If the central estimate is correct, that

    would mean that around 44 percent of the non-EU

    migrant population of London could be made up of

    irregular migrants.29

    Furthermore, this study undercounts the irregular

    population as it includes all those who do not have

    permission to be in the UK but excludes those

    who do have a visa but are in breach of their visa

    conditions. Therefore, even if the policy of dispersal

    has reduced the concentration of asylum seekers

    in London, it is suggested that the bulk of irregular

    migrants live in the capital.

    Migration in London has therefore increased

    significantly in the past decades, concentrating

    a disproportionate number of the UKs migrant

    population. It has also grown increasingly diverse,

    not just in terms of the origins of migrants, but in

    terms of their immigration status and, therefore,their rights and entitlements.

    Where do migrants live?

    Different areas of the city have had very different

    experiences of immigration. Some areas have

    had few migrants until recently while others have

    had large numbers of migrants for many years.

    Similarly, some migrant communities have become

    especially visible in particular areas, either because

    27Carey-Wood, Jenny, Karen

    Duke, Valerie Kam and Tony

    Marshal. 1995, The Settlement

    of Refugees in Britain, Home

    Office Research Study 141,

    London: HMSO.

    28Home Office, 2009, Control

    of Immigrations: StatisticsUnited Kingdom 2008, Home

    Office 2009.

    29Gordon, Ian, Kathleen

    Scanlon, Tony Travers and

    Christine Whitehead, 2009,

    Economic impact on the

    London and UK economy of

    an earned regularisation of

    irregular migrants to the UK,

    London: GLA.

    14 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    the 1999 Act, was designed with the specific aim

    of reducing the concentration of asylum seekers inLondon. This policy meant that for asylum seekers

    to receive public funded housing they would be

    dispersed to areas outside of London. The numbers

    of asylum seeker in London were significantly

    reduced, but those who stayed in London had to

    find their own accommodation. However, there is

    some evidence of a proportion of dispersed asylum

    seekers moving to London after their cases have

    been resolved.

    Absolute numbers of asylum seekers have declinedfrom a peak of over 100 thousand in 2002 to just

    over 31 thousand in 2008 (including dependants).

    Before dispersal policies were introduced, London

    housed the majority of asylum seekers in the UK.

    One estimate in the mid 1990s reported that 85% of

    asylum seekers and refugees lived in London.27The

    NATIONALITY PERCENTAGE

    British 79.2

    Non- British 20.8

    EU 14 5.1

    EU A8 2.3

    EU 26 7.9

    Rest of the World 12.9

    Source: Focus on London 2009

    TABLE 4. NATIONALIT Y OF LONDON RESIDEN TS,

    2007

    proportion of these in London has also decreased

    significantly since the introduction of dispersal in

    2001. Furthermore, most asylum seekers in London

    are in receipt of subsistence only support. At the

    end of 2008 there were a reported 4,138 asylum

    seekers in receipt of subsistence support only and

    a further 805 in receipt of housing and subsistence

    support in London out of a total of 32,580 people in

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    in receiving new migrants for many decades and

    centuries.

    Since the 1950s, some parts of London have housed

    large numbers of migrants from a similar origin

    and their descendants. These areas have developed

    ethnic economies and have had social and religious

    facilities built making them important centres for

    certain communities. It has not always been an easy

    process and in some cases it has been accompanied

    by racial tensions and unrest, leading to fights and

    rioting, as in the battle of Cable Street in 1936, the

    Notting Hill riots of 1958 and 1976, and the Brixtonriots of 1981. Thus, Southall has been an important

    place for Sikh migrants from East Africa and the

    Indian subcontinent, Brick Lane for Bangladeshi

    migrants in the East End, the Green Lanes area of

    Haringey for Turkish, Cypriot and Kurdish migrants,

    and Brixton for Jamaicans. The influence of many

    of Londons migrant communities can be mapped

    onto certain areas of the city where they have left

    an important imprint.31This emergence of ethnic

    economies and areas has added to the diversity of

    London.

    However, even those areas where migrants and

    ethnic minority groups cluster are generally, on

    closer inspection, mixed areas. This is the case as

    well for most British cities. Where London does

    seem to make a difference is in the exposure of

    white British people to ethnic minorities and

    migrants. In a study on residential segregation in 18

    cities based on the 2001 census, London and Slough

    were the only cities where less than 70 per cent

    of white people lived in areas where white people

    formed at least 80 per cent of the population.32

    Thatmeans that white people in London are much more

    likely to live alongside people from other ethnic

    backgrounds than white people in other British

    cities.

    As a result of the intensity of migration over the

    past seventy years London now has some of the

    most ethnically diverse areas of the UK. At the

    time of the 2001 census 59 per cent of Londoners

    were identified as White British while 41 per cent

    belonged to an ethnic minority or mixed group

    30Finella, Giorgio, 2006,

    London borough residents by

    country of birth: An analysis

    of 2001 Census data, DMAG

    briefing 2006/4, London:

    DMAG.

    31See for example, the

    Guardians special report,

    London: The World in a City,2005 31 See for example, the

    Guardians special report,

    London: The World in a City,

    2005.

    32Johnston, Ron, James

    Forrest and Michael Poulsen,

    2002, Are there Ethnic

    Enclaves/Ghettos in English

    Cities? Urban Studies 39(4):

    591-618.

    15 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    of residential concentration in the area or because

    they have set up a large number of commercial,religious and social facilities in close proximity.

    While in some areas one migrant community has

    some prevalence over others, in other areas of the

    city there is extreme diversity with many different

    groups living together without the clear dominance

    of any one group. Overall, and despite the concerns

    in some sectors of society, there is little evidence

    of ghettoisation of migrants in London if a ghetto

    is understood as an area in which the inhabitants

    are overwhelmingly from the same group and

    where the majority of the people of that origin havesettled in that specific area.

    In general, migrants are much more concentrated in

    Inner London than in the Outer London boroughs.

    In 2001 census, the proportion of migrants in a

    number of Outer London boroughs was less than

    15 per cent of their inhabitants. These include

    the boroughs of Bromley, Bexley, Barking and

    Dagenham, Sutton and Havering. On the other

    hand, in some of the Inner London boroughs, more

    than a third of the population was foreign born. This

    included affluent boroughs such as Westminster

    (46 per cent) and Kensington and Chelsea (44 per

    cent) but also less affluent boroughs such as Tower

    Hamlets (35 per cent), Newham (38 per cent), and

    Haringey (37 per cent).30

    Specific areas of London have a long history of

    receiving immigrants. The port areas of the East

    of London have housed communities of foreign

    seamen for hundreds of years. The area around

    Spitalfields and Whitechapel has received different

    waves of migrants including Huguenot refugeeswho in the eighteenth century settled in the

    vicinity and set up weaving workshops. In the late

    nineteenth and early twentieth century the area

    received thousands of Jews fleeing pogroms in

    Russia and Eastern Europe. With economic success

    they moved out to other areas of the city and in

    the 1970s the area started receiving large numbers

    of Bengali migrants who have been joined more

    recently by Somali and other groups. Some areas

    of London have therefore played an important role

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    Immigration and Londons Labourmarket

    Londons economy relies heavily on internationalmigrants at all levels. Within the citys economy,

    however, migrants appear to play an especially

    important role at the top and bottom ends of the

    labour market. On one hand, companies benefit

    from widening the pool from which they can recruit

    top performers and people with particular skills that

    are in short supply in the UK. On the other end of

    the spectrum, the corporate and service economy

    benefits from a large supply of labour doing low-

    skilled jobs for low wages. These include personal

    services for the growing professional classes and

    33Piggott, Gareth, 2006,

    Simpsons diversity indices by

    ward 1991 and 2001, DMAG

    Briefing 2006/2, London: GLA.

    16 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    and nine London boroughs had a minority ethnic

    population of more than 50 per cent. Some areas of

    London have large proportions of a couple of ethnic

    groups but others have become very diverse. Theborough of Newham, especially, has some of the

    highest diversity indices in England. In 2001, nine of

    the fifteen most ethnically diverse wards in England

    and Wales were located in Newham.33

    The clustering of migrants from certain countries

    and their descendents has therefore created areas of

    London with a wide offer of ethnic restaurants, shops

    and religious facilities, adding to the diversity of the

    city, but in these areas Londons neighbourhoods are

    diverse with little evidence of ghettos.

    LONDON BOROUGH % FOREIGN BORN

    Brent 47.1

    Kensington and Chelsea 45.1

    Westminster 44.8

    Newham 38.3

    Ealing 37.9

    Haringey 37.8

    Camden 37.5

    Tower Hamlets 35.2

    Hackney 34.9

    Hammersmith and Fulham 34.4

    Harrow 33.5

    Lambeth 31.9

    Barnet 31.0

    Southwark 30.9

    Islington 30.6

    Hounslow 30.2

    City of London 28.5

    Wandsworth 27.7

    Merton 26.8

    Source: Finella 2006

    LONDON BOROUGH % FOREIGN BORN

    Waltham Forest 25.6

    Enfield 25.4

    Redbridge 24.6

    Lewisham 24.4

    Croydon 22.1

    Richmond upon Thames 20.3

    Kingston upon Thames 20.2

    Greenwich 18.5

    Hillingdon 18.4

    Sutton 12.3

    Barking and Dagenham 11.7

    Bromley 10.4

    Bexley 8.4

    Havering 5.9

    Inner London 34.3

    Outer London 23.4

    London 27.6

    TABLE 5. NONUK BORN R ESIDENTS BY LONDON BOROUGH, 2001

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    In recent years, large numbers of migrants from

    the Eastern European countries that joined theEU in 2004 have provided a labour supply for this

    sector of the economy. As a consequence, overseas

    recruitment of non-EU labour for low skilled jobs

    has been severely limited. However, migrant

    workers continue to make up a very significant

    proportion of the workforce in these sectors, with

    large numbers of them coming from beyond the

    EU. Most non-EU migrants are therefore recruited

    in-country and will include people with diverse

    immigration statuses and trajectories.

    This labour market therefore means that there are

    big differences between migrant groups in terms

    of their employment rates and the type of work

    that they do. The evidence thus shows, as would

    be expected, that larger proportions of migrants

    from high-income countries of origin work in highly

    skilled and well paid jobs, while migrants from low-

    income countries tend to be more concentrated

    in low-skilled low-paid jobs. Whereas 60 percent

    of migrants from high-income countries work in

    professional and managerial occupations, the rate

    for migrants from poor countries is 39 percent.36

    Migrants from high-income countries also tend to

    have higher employment rates than those from low

    income countries. However, amongst the latter it is

    countries of origin with a high proportion of asylum

    seekers and refugees, such as Somalia, Congo,

    Rwanda, Afghanistan and Serbia and Montenegro,

    which have the lowest employment rates,

    pointing to significant issues in terms of access to

    employment for asylum seekers and refugees.37

    The general trend is therefore for migrants to be

    represented in all sectors of Londons economy

    and in both high and low income jobs, but with

    large differences in outcomes between migrants

    from different countries of origin. Those from high

    income countries tend to be represented in high

    and low paid jobs from the start and many from

    poor non-asylum countries over represented in

    low paid work in the first years after migration and

    slowly moving out into better paid jobs. Employed

    migrants from asylum origin countries also tend

    34LSE, 2009, Londons Place

    in the UK Economy, 2009-10,

    London: LSE, p33.

    35Dawson, Ian, Andy

    Jackson and Matt Rhodes,

    2006, Graduate Skills and

    Recruitment in the City,

    London: City of London.

    36 Spence, Lorna, 2005,

    Country of Birth and Labour

    Market Outcomes in London:

    An analysis of Labour Force

    Survey and Census Data,

    DMAG Briefing 2005/1,

    London: GLA, 3; more recent

    work shows similar findings,

    see LSE, 2007, The Impact of

    Recent Immigration on the

    London Economy, London:

    City of London.

    37 Ibid.

    17 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    a host of jobs that keep the citys infrastructure

    growing and working on a day to day basis, such asconstruction workers, cleaners, and catering staff.

    At the top end of the labour market large

    companies transfer and head-hunt people from

    other locations to London and actively recruit

    overseas. They aim to enlarge the available pool

    of talent from which they can recruit to the whole

    world, attracting the best workers to the UK. They

    can also enlarge the supply of individuals with

    specific skills that are in short numbers locally. The

    effect of this is that only 25 percent of graduateworkers in London were born there, with 45 percent

    coming from other areas of the UK and almost a

    third (30 percent) born overseas.34The financial and

    banking sector in London actively and increasingly

    recruits workers amongst overseas students

    studying in the UK and in foreign universities, who

    are perceived to have attributes that UK graduates

    lack.

    A recent study amongst City companies found that

    as many as 22 per cent of graduate recruits into the

    financial and related business services sectors came

    from abroad and in some organisations it was up

    to half.35Business leaders have been successful in

    lobbying for the possibility for top workers to be

    able to work in London and immigration policy is

    designed taking into account these needs. Thus,

    managed migration and the points based system

    aim at facilitating the continued recruitment of

    workers at this level while restricting recruitment for

    lower-skilled jobs unless there is a proved shortage

    of labour.

    At the other end of the labour market, that of low-

    paid unskilled jobs, the driving factor with regards

    to migration is the demand for labour willing to

    take on jobs at a low wage that are generally not

    coveted by local people because of their nature,

    low pay, unsociable working hours, or the lack of

    opportunities to progress. Until the 1970s, there was

    active recruitment overseas for these jobs, but the

    sectors for which it is possible to do so have been

    progressively reduced.

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    38 Dench, Sally, Jennifer

    Hursfield, Darcy Hill, Karen

    Akroyd, 2006, Employers use

    of migrant labour, Home Office

    Online Report 04/06, London:Home Office.

    39 Wills, Jane, Kavita Datta,

    Yara Evans, Joanna Herbert,

    Hon May and Cathy McIlwaine,

    2010, Global Cities at Work:

    New migrant divisions of

    labour London: Pluto Press.

    40 Ibid.

    41MacInnes, Tom and Peter

    Kenway, 2009, Londons

    Poverty Profile, London: New

    Policy Institute.

    18 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    to be spread in terms of income but in their case

    there are large proportions of migrants outsideemployment.

    Furthermore, if migrants are an important element

    in all sectors of the economy, they have become

    essential for some specific sectors which virtually

    depend on a migrant origin labour force. A 2006

    report found that employers feel that migrant

    workers are less crucial in high skilled sectors than

    in low skilled sectors. In low skilled sectors the

    problems are related to a shortage of domestic

    labour while in the high skilled sectors it is relatedto skill gaps. Employers mostly did not seek out

    to employ migrant workers specifically but for

    certain types of jobs, especially low skilled jobs, the

    response to the job advertisements came mostly

    from migrants.38

    Therefore, even though the proportion of foreign

    born employees has grown as a whole, the sectors

    that have become much more dependent on

    migrant workers tend to be those that offer low

    paid jobs. One analysis of Labour Force Survey

    data shows that in the ten years from 1994-2004

    the proportion of foreign born labour in London

    increased from 25 to 34 percent. Yet amongst

    chefs and cooks it increased from 51 to 76 percent,

    amongst catering assistants from 42 to 62 percent

    and amongst cleaners from 41 to 69 per cent.39

    London has a much higher dependency on migrant

    labour for low and medium paid essential jobs

    than other areas of the UK, despite London also

    having a higher unemployment rate. The high

    unemployment and out of work rates in Londonare the result of low wages and poor working

    conditions coupled with the high costs of living

    in the capital. Efficiency drives in the public and

    private sector as well as the preference for a flexible

    workforce have led many organisations to outsource

    essential services and to use agency staff.

    The subcontracting of services has led to strong

    competition between companies and agencies

    offering services such as cleaning, temporary

    staff and care workers. These companies can only

    compete in the market by pushing down wages and

    working conditions to the minimum legal standards.Wages in many of Londons low-paid jobs have

    therefore been driven down by this competition

    to levels that often make them unattractive to

    British and settled workers. Most of these jobs are

    therefore now carried out by recent migrants who

    do not have access to welfare benefits.40

    The problem of low-paid work in London is

    compounded by exceptionally high housing

    and transport costs. Housing, for example, is an

    important key factor affecting poverty in the capital.If housing costs are not taken into account, the

    rate of low income households in inner London (20

    percent) is similar to that of England as a whole and

    that of outer London (16 percent) is lower. However,

    once housing costs are included, both inner and

    outer London have much higher rates of low income

    (31 and 25 percent) than the rest of England. Due to

    this, housing benefit makes up a larger proportion

    of household income in London than in other

    areas.41

    Once housing and transport costs are taken into

    account, this means that households whose income

    comes from low-paid work find it more difficult to

    cover their living costs and have any disposable

    income. For some authors, these costs put local

    people off from relatively and very low-paid jobs

    and make employment in these jobs attractive only

    to the foreign born population that does not have

    access to social housing and other benefits.

    There are other reasons why migrant workers take

    jobs that the settled population does not. Migrantsare often young and single and more willing

    to tolerate poor housing conditions. For many

    migrants living in London is not a permanent move

    but a temporary life phase where they are gaining

    in other ways from their life in the capital, such as in

    education, or in the experience of living in a world

    city. Many migrants are also willing to put on long

    hours of work and multiple jobs in order to save

    money as part of a transnational strategy, either

    sending money to family members in their countries

    of origin or saving for them to return with.

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    42May, Jon, et al., 2007,

    Keeping London Working:

    Global Cities, the British State

    and Londons New Migrant

    Division of Labour, p151-167.

    43IPPR, 2005, Migration and

    Health in the UK: an IPPR Fact

    File, London: IPPR.

    44Glover, Stephen, Ceri Gott,

    Anais Lizillon, Jonathan Portes,

    Richard Price, Sarah Spencer,

    Vasanthi Srinivasan and Carole

    Willis, 2001, Migration: an

    economic and social analysis,

    RDS Occasional Paper 67,London: Home Office, p38.

    45Cangiano, Alessio, Isabel

    Shutes, Sarah Spencer and

    George Leeson, 2009, Migrant

    Care Workers: Research

    Findings in the UK, Oxford:

    COMPAS, p70-73.

    46Ibid. p64.

    47 Wills, Jane, et al., 2010,

    Global Cities at Work: New

    migrant divisions of labour

    London: Pluto Press.

    19 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    Two sectors of Londons economy that generally

    rely heavily on a migrant workforce are contract

    cleaning and hospitality and catering. A recent

    report on low paid work found amongst

    the companies that were surveyed that the

    proportion of foreign born workers was 95 per

    cent in Underground cleaning staff, 93 per cent in

    hospitality, 89 per cent in office cleaning and 56

    per cent in the care sector. Half of these migrant

    workers had arrived in the UK in the past five years. 42

    Health is another sector which has for some

    time has relied heavily on migrants to fill labour

    shortages. Between 1992 and 2002 more than half

    of new registered doctors and almost 40 percent

    of nurses in the UK came from abroad.43A 2001

    report stated that while London is less dependenton foreign doctors than the rest of the UK, the

    proportion of nurses is four times as high with

    almost half coming from abroad. In London 23

    percent of doctors and 47 per cent of nurses are

    foreign born.44This dependency on the work of

    migrants in health related jobs is not restricted

    to the NHS. The proportion of foreign-born care

    workers and nurses is over 60 per cent in London,

    more than twice that of the next highest region and

    more than four times as high than in other regions.45

    There are some similarities between these sectors

    of employment that have a very high proportion of

    migrants as part of their workforce. They provide

    services either to individuals (catering, care workers,

    nurses) or for the smooth operation of business and

    infrastructure (contract cleaning). They often have

    working hours outside the normal working day and

    require working shifts. Crucially, they are jobs that

    have increasingly been subject to subcontracting

    and agency work and therefore subject to market

    competition that pushes wages down.

    These jobs are disproportionately carried out by

    recently arrived migrants from poorer countries.

    In some cases, certain jobs rely heavily on a

    workforce recruited from people coming from

    specific countries: people from India and thePhilippines account for over half of migrant nurses

    who have arrived in the past 10 years 46and Black

    Africans, especially from Ghana and Nigeria make

    up the majority of the workforce cleaning the

    underground.47Other sectors have workforces

    coming from a diversity of countries of origin,

    such as office cleaning, catering and social work.

    Nevertheless, for certain nationalities there are

    employment niches in which they concentrate.

    Non-migrant 21% 20% 21% 19% 20%

    High wage countries 0-3 18% 14% 12% 21% 35%

    >3 19% 15% 16% 22% 28%

    Asylum countries 0-3 31% 24% 14% 13% 18%

    >3 23% 20% 14% 21% 22%

    Other low wage countries 0-3 46% 20% 10% 14% 11%

    >3 25% 19% 16% 17% 22%

    Source: LSE 2007

    YEARS IN THE

    UK

    BOTTOM QUINTILE

    (20.8p.h)

    TABLE 6. MIGRANTS ORIGINS AND LABOUR MARKET OUTCOMES

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    48The long term trend

    suggested that changes

    in Londons labour market

    were characterised by a

    process of professionalization

    (Hammnet 2003), but the

    new data suggests that there

    is a process of polarisation

    happening along the lines

    of that described by Sassens

    Global City hypothesis.

    20 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    Some authors have suggested that low wages and

    poor working conditions have created in Londona migrant division of labour, with foreign born

    workers overwhelmingly performing most of the

    low-paid work of several sectors of the economy.

    Furthermore, there is evidence that the proportion

    of people employed in the lowest paid jobs has

    grown in the past few years. This is a significant

    shift in the trend over the past couple of decades in

    which the proportion of people employed in highly

    paid jobs had been increasing while the proportion

    of those in low paid jobs had stayed constant. This

    recent growth in low-paid employment has reliedon the supply of migrant labour.48

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    21 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    3. Policy issues arising from immigration in aglobal city

    Key points:

    y Migrants are estimated to make higher relative fiscal contributions than non-

    migrants.

    y Londons local authorities are getting a raw deal from migration because of

    problems with the population estimates on which their budgets are allocated.

    y There are some direct public sector costs associated with immigration related to

    integration and administrative costs.

    y Recent migrants tend to be housed in the private rented sector which has been

    able to accommodate the recent influx but as they settle, migrants tend to have

    similar housing needs to those of long term residents.

    y Homelessness amongst migrants with no entitlement to housing support is an

    emerging issue of concern in London.

    y Migrants are relatively healthy and a key source of labour for the NHS, but a

    number of them find it difficult to access health services.

    yMigration has not had a significant effect on employment and unemploymentrates in London but has had an effect in depressing wages in low paid jobs.

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    As well as benefits, immigration brings about a

    series of challenges to which policy makers haveresponded to in a variety of ways. One of the big

    issues raised by the large numbers of new arrivals

    in the past decade has been the ways in which the

    increase in population can put pressure on services

    and on the strategies of authorities at different

    levels.

    Another area of concern is the way in which migrant

    workers affect the labour market, with debates on

    whether migrants depress wages and whether they

    contribute to unemployment amongst native bornworkers and other long-term residents. The rapid

    turnover in population evidently has implications

    and costs for policies and service provision at the

    local level. While some of the actions taken by local

    authorities and other public bodies to adapt to

    these changes have been documented, there is,

    however, little available evidence of the real scale

    and costs of these changes.49

    Some immigrant groups contribute more in revenue

    than other groups, but work by the Institute of

    Public Policy Research has estimated that overall

    the relative net fiscal contribution of migrants is

    higher than that of the UK born population. The

    annual net contribution of the migrant and UK born

    populations alike is positive or negative depending

    on whether there is a deficit or not in the annual

    budget, but the net contribution of migrants is

    higher than that of the British born population in

    any case.50However, because budget allocation for

    local areas is partly based on population estimates

    which have been shown to be inaccurate, the fiscal

    contribution of migrants is often not adequatelyreflected in the budgets of local authorities.

    A lot of the negative coverage on migration in

    the popular press has focused on access to public

    services such as housing and health, with stories

    of abuse of the system, allegations that migrants

    have been given priority over the settled population

    and that services are being over stretched. These

    stories, focused as they are on extreme cases, often

    give the erroneous impression that migrants put

    more demands on services than settled residents.

    22 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    However, the largest problem local authorities claim

    to be facing in terms of funding is not that migrantsare more demanding on services than the settled

    population, but with the problematic population

    estimates on the basis of which public funds are

    allocated.51

    Population estimates and projections for local areas

    play a key role in the way that the government

    calculates the grants that fund the work of local

    authorities. Their funding is allocated according

    to the estimated and projected population of the

    area and this population is calculated using figuresfrom the last census in 2001 updated with changes

    due to births and deaths, internal migration and

    international migration.

    The International Passenger Survey, which is used

    to estimate international migration, has been

    especially singled out as not fit for purpose in

    producing these estimates. The association of

    London councils has expressed its dissatisfaction

    with the accuracy of population estimates for

    London boroughs, stating that these underestimate

    the real numbers of residents.52

    A recent report from the House of Commons

    Treasury Committee suggested that the Statistics

    Authority should as a priority develop better

    local population estimates and the London

    Regional Committee of the House of Commons

    has stated its preoccupation that the 2011 census

    may undercount Londons population.53Despite

    changes in the way population numbers are

    estimated, London boroughs continue to feel there

    are problems and have warned about possibleundercounts in the forthcoming census.

    Research with local authorities has singled out that

    poor population estimates mean that they are being

    under resourced as the figures used to allocate their

    budgets are not accurate.54Furthermore, short term

    and irregular migrants are generally not included

    in these estimates but local authorities still have to

    provide them with some services.

    49Travers, Tony, Rebecca

    Tunstall and Christing

    Whitehead, 2007, Population

    Mobility and Service Provision:

    A report for London Councils,

    London: LSE, p17.

    50Sriskandarajah,

    Dhananjayan, Laurence Cooleyand Howard Reed, 2005,

    Paying their way: the fiscal

    contribution of immigrants in

    the UK, London: IPPR.

    51House of Commons

    Treasury Committee, 2008,

    Counting the Population,

    Eleventh Report of Session

    2007-08, London: House of

    Commons; Audit Commission,

    2007, Crossing borders:

    Responding to the local

    challenges of migrant

    workers, Public Services

    National report, London:

    Audit Commission; iCoCo,

    2007, Estimating the scale and

    impacts of migration at the

    local level, London: LGA.

    52 London Councils, 2010,

    Counting the cost: improvingthe accuracy of population

    figures; London Councils, 2007,

    Population Measures and

    Grant Distribution.

    53 House of Commons London

    Regional Committee, 2010,

    Londons population and

    the 2011 Census: First report

    of session 2009-10, London:

    House of Commons.

    54iCoCo, 2007, Estimating the

    scale and impacts of migration

    at the local level, London: LGA.

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    55Travers, Tony, Rebecca

    Tunstall and Christing

    Whitehead, 2007, Population

    Mobility and Service Provision:

    A report for London Councils,

    London: LSE.

    23 Migrant Capital: a perspective on contemporary migration in London

    Two important elements to highlight here are that,

    first, international migration is only one elementamongst others in terms of population change and

    the way it is estimated. Internal migration also plays

    an important part. The second is that there is no

    implication that migrants place higher demands on

    services than non-migrants, but that migrants are

    being undercounted due to problems in population

    estimates.

    A further cost for local authorities arising from

    immigration is the administrative costs incurred

    in processing the new population in terms ofupdating records and services. This, however, is a

    common feature for all types of mobility, not only

    international, and thus the scale of the problem

    goes well beyond the impact of international

    migrants, including the movement of people within

    the UK and within London. These costs are thus

    associated with mobility generally, and not just with

    international migrants.55

    Immigration policy and its

    implications

    Immigration policy and the different rights and

    entitlements assigned to the different categories of

    immigration status frame much of the subsequent

    impact that migrants have on local areas and

    policies. Immigration status puts conditions

    on migrants rights to enter the country, their

    authorised length of stay, activities they can

    undertake and access to public funds.

    Access to some public services is limited for migrantsdepending on immigration status. Thus, welfare

    support, social housing and free secondary health

    provision are restricted for those who are not settled.

    Other services are universal, for example emergency

    and primary health care and childrens education.

    This means that there are often significant differences

    between settled and recent migrants in terms of

    access and use of public services. There are several

    immigration pathways into the UK which can be

    grouped under the broad headings of freedom of

    movement within the EU, family reunion, asylum and

    migration for work and study.

    People from most of the EU countries are not

    subject to immigration control, although for a

    transition period those from the A8 countries are

    required to register under the Worker Registration

    Scheme and have limited access to public funds

    until settled. People from Bulgaria and Romania,

    also need to apply for permission to work in the UK.

    For non-EU nationals wishing to move to the UK

    on a long term basis there are three main routes of

    entry: as workers through the points based systemand work permits; through family reunion or through

    applying for asylum. There are also temporary entry

    permissions for students and visitors.

    Policy around asylum seekers and refugees has been

    at the heart of changes to the immigration system.

    The changes were introduced as a reaction to the

    large increase in asylum applications in the late

    1990s and early 2000s and the concurrent public

    fear that the asylum system was being abused. The

    restrictions, however, covered all asylum seekers

    who were going through a decision and appeals

    system that often took several years to produce a

    final decision.

    As a result of these changes, a special public

    support service was set up to provide housing and

    subsistence support to asylum seekers. Housing

    support was conditional on applicants moving to

    allocated areas of the country. Similarly, asylum

    seekers can only enter employment with Home

    Office authorisation if their cases have taken more

    than a year to be resolved.

    The limited access to welfare and housing

    entitlements and, in some cases, restrictions

    on working, means that asylum seekers can be

    especially vulnerable to destitution, homelessness

    and health problems. Similarly, A8 migrants who

    lose their jobs before having worked continuously

    for 12 months in the UK can also become destitute.

    Even though there is not much data available, it has

    been suggested that the cost for London boroughs

    of supporting people from abroad with no recourse

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    UK. Those not recognised by the government as

    unable to return home become irregular migrantsand often end up destitute.59

    The irregular population, however, also includes

    overstayers, people who remain in the country once

    their temporary visas expire, and illegal entrants,

    those who either evade entry control or enter

    on false documents. A further group of irregular

    migrants is that of those who have authorisation

    to be in the country but are in breach of their visa

    conditions. A common case is that of students

    who are in employment more than the authorisednumber of hours and/or who do not attend their

    courses.

    Irregular migrants are a diverse population but

    the bulk of the estimated irregular population

    is made up of failed asylum seekers. Contrary to

    press coverage focusing on irregular migrants

    entering the UK hidden in lorries, the vast majority

    of irregular migrants have entered the country

    legally. Furthermore, the trajectory of many of these

    individuals often involves changing status, moving

    between regularity and irregularity.

    Some of these issues are more prominent in

    London than in other areas due to the particular

    characteristics of the capital.

    Language and information provision

    The main responses that local authorities have had

    to undertake in respect of international migrants

    relate to aiding the settlement of migrants, a largepart of which involves provision of information and

    language issues. Many local authorities have had

    to provide information services, publications and

    advice to newcomers, as well as training staff on

    diversity and creating new posts in order to improve

    communications with new communities. Equally,

    there has been an increase in the need to provide

    translation and interpretation services. Finally,

    there is an increased demand on courses of English

    for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) which

    are seen as a priority for effective integration.60In

    56Travers, Tony, Rebecca

    Tunstall and Christing

    Whitehead, 2007, Population

    Mobility and Service Provision:

    A report for London Councils,

    London: LSE, p32.

    57 Home Office, 2009, Control

    of Immigrations: Statistics

    United Kingdom 2008, Home

    Office 2009; ICAR, 2007,

    Asylum Appeals Process,

    Thematic Briefing, London:

    ICAR.

    58 ICAR, 2009, Key Statistics

    about asy