we assume net migration of 140,000 a year
Which stands in contrast to the government’s immigration policy:
we will reduce net migration back to the levels of the 1990s – tens of thousands not hundreds of thousands
If the OBR takes this into account, it will mean a smaller workforce, less GDP, lower tax receipts and higher borrowing. Probably not a big difference, but worth noting.
2 comments:
The Tory's policy and the OBR don't clash. One is estimated levels based on what is happening the other is based on actual future action. The later is not going to happen in a single year either.
We've got the right level of workforce numbers. It's just that they are deciding not to work but to take benefits instead.
Also look up the numbers of those not working. I don't mean unemployed, I mean those not working but not claiming.
All added together it makes for quite a lot. A lot more than the odd hundred thousand immigrants.
If you say that we still need them for their skills, then thats a different issue. Thats because the number of skilled immigrants is miniscule compared to all the others.
I don't think these are in conflict - once you get past the Tory spin. They want less immigration, but they can't deliver significantly less immigration as freedom of movement is a fundamental part of the EU.
(One theory I have in my more sadistic moments, is that with the eurozone looking to deflate its way to competitiveness, and a cap on non-EU immigration leaving a gap in the UK labour market, that we might end up with HIGHER immigration as people flee the wage cuts in Greece etc.)
"It's just that they are deciding not to work but to take benefits instead."
You do know there's been a recession on, don't you?
"Also look up the numbers of those not working."
Do your own homework.
"Thats because the number of skilled immigrants is miniscule compared to all the others."
I think the free market solved this problem a long time ago.
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