Press Archives

Tuesday 22 March 2005

Response of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants to the OECD figures on migration published today

Habib Rahman, JCWI Chief Executive, said:

"Current rates of legal migration are not just sustainable, they are essential. Firstly, the UK is committed to offering a safe haven to those fleeing persecution, and secondly, it has a dynamic economy.

"By comparison with the rest of the world the UK is actually not contributing the lion's share of human rights protection. Around 87 per cent of the most vulnerable people fleeing persecution are looked after by some of the poorest countries in Africa and Asia. The UK came 11th out of the EU countries receiving asylum seekers per capita in 2004.

"A large amount of economic migration is employer-led: that is UK employers, including the public sector, actively recruit abroad to fill vacancies that UK employees cannot fill. The NHS is dependent for a third of its doctors on individuals who gained their qualifications overseas. Around a tenth of registered midwives and nurses qualified overseas. 600,000 vacancies remain unfilled in the UK at any one time because people do not want the jobs, or do not have the necessary skills, or cannot get to them because of where they live."