The FINANCIAL — The current debate on migration needs to be better informed and based on an understanding of the impact and contributions of different migrant groups, according to a new book by the research centre LSE London.
Migration and London’s Growth brings together some of the material from a two year programme of analysis and discussion and looks at issues such as how migration has affected housing, politics and wages in the capital as well as the experience in other cities.
Contributors highlight how migrants are moving into new areas. ‘Poor country’ migrants are no longer especially concentrated in the inner city for example. Driven by pressures, such as housing, they are increasingly settling in outer London boroughs and even in some areas outside of the green belt.
A paper by Jon Beaverstock highlights the important role which international recruitment plays for financial services in the City – suggesting that a constant through-flow of talent is key if London is to remain at the top of leader board of financial centres.
A paper by Tony Travers points out that, so far, the Labour party appears to have benefitted electorally from the arrivals of migrants and the growing ethnic minority population in London. As the city’s population becomes less white British, this trend is likely to continue although other factors could affect voting patterns in different ways.
“If there is a single message from this book it is that the discussion around migration and its impact within the London region needs to be less based on broad generalisations and stereotypes. A more nuanced understanding of the different impacts of specific categories of migrants; migrants coming from rich and poor countries, highly skilled migrants, well established migrant groups and new arrivals is absolutely necessary for London to reap the benefits and alleviate the costs of migration,“ Tony Travers, one of the editors, said.
“Public pronouncements about the prospective impacts of migration and of migration management rarely reflect solidly evidence-based analyses. Part of the aim of this book is to disseminate existing research more widely and stimulate demand for further work in this area,” Christine Whitehead, also an editor, said.
A number of the book’s contributors, including those from Amsterdam, New York and Switzerland stress that international in-migration is necessary, both to provide skills and simple growth in the workforce but also because it makes for a more vibrant community for the twenty first century. But a number of the authors are sceptical about the virtues of the scale and management of migration, especially given the speed of change that has been experienced in recent years and the fact that there are losers as well as gainers, according to LSE.
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