17 January 2014

Immigration is a hot topic at the moment, but the latest figures have shown that many people are being misinformed in regard to immigration, as the government keeps on peddling its myths in order to scare people of the effects of immigration on the UK.

The government has taken it as its job to portray immigrants as a threat to the country’s public purse by implying that they are only interested in claiming benefits; however, this statement and depiction could not be any further from the truth.

The IER has maintained that immigration is overwhelmingly beneficial to the UK as migrants provide key skills that will give the economy a much-needed boost.

YouGov recently conducted a survey that revealed people are under the impression that over 500,000 EU migrants are claiming Jobseeker's Allowance whilst the real figure is closer to 60,000, which totals around 3% of incomers.

This may explain why in an ICM poll that was published on 13 January 2014, 54% claimed to believe that immigrants would have a negative effect and would steal their jobs, despite being told that immigrants draw less from the welfare state than those born in the UK.

But will the government stop spreading misinformation following these figures? It seems unlikely, as even after the head of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Robert Chote came out and said that migrants would have a positive influence on the public purse as most are of working age and contribute to paying taxes the government has not u-turned on its position.

If you are passionate regarding the subject of migration, the IER’s alternative immigration analyses and recommendations are contained in our latest publication Labour migration in hard times: Reforming labour market regulation? The book explores in some detail the subject of migration and the truth behind the populist myths that the government continues to spread.