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'Britain 'is suffering an exodus of skilled staff'
Last updated at 00:07am on 09.04.07The UK is in the grip of a serious 'brain drain', a leading academic has warned.
Well-educated professionals and managers are leaving the country in droves, according to John Salt, an expert on migration from University College London.
In their place, low-skilled workers from Eastern Europe are flooding in - leading to a 'de-skilling' of the workforce.
Professor Salt's findings will fuel concerns over Labour's opendoor immigration policies.
According to official figures, between 2000 and 2005 a net total of 272,000 Britons emigrated, while a net total of 639,000 non-Britons moved here.
But experts warn that in the past two years, up to 700,000 workers have actually arrived from the former Eastern Bloc. The majority are taking low-skilled jobs.
Professor Salt said that in 2005, 29 per of those arriving were in low-grade jobs and 37 per cent were not in work. Only a third were professionals.
Of those leaving the UK, almost half - 42 per cent - were professionals or managers.
They are heading mainly for New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., and Canada.
In his report for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Professor Salt said: "Migration flows are tending towards a de-skilling of the UK labour market."
A Home Office spokesman said it was introducing a points-based immigration scheme from 2009 which will make it harder for lowskilled migrants to gain work visas. • Organised gangs are offering to smuggle thousands of illegal immigrants into Britain for as little as £200 from a new base near the closed Sangatte welfare centre, it has emerged.
Up to 500 migrants at a time are sleeping in the French camps being run by Afghan gangs.
The flow of arrivals is so constant that authorities in Calais are planning to open a new welfare centre, dubbed Sangatte Two.
Reader views (5)
I know a lot of people that have moved in the past 10 years to Canada and the US from England. They were fed up with the over population and high taxes.
- Richard, NC , USA
I left 18 months ago. I am a banker and am enjoying 13% tax rates.
Hey, Gordon, you are not going to get my cash! I am not feeding your socialist grab from the middle classes frenzy. I actually get the benefit of my labour now, not giving to your undeserving swarming bureaucracy. Bye!
- John, Moscow, Russia
Labor is thinking political correctness is more important than a country. Taxing only works if there's someone left to be taxed!
And the good productive ones are leaving! For many reasons - crime is topping, dirty streets, schools a joke etc. etc. ...
- Georgie, London
Unless we can rid our country of this corrupted Government with its antiquated 'Jobs for the Boys' our country will continue to nose dive into oblivion, such as the disorganised heap the NHS has become. Look at the vast army of government employees that drain our economy, all retiring with 'Golden Handshakes' and retirement between 50 to 55, whilst the rest of the country is expected to work till they drop. Look how all MPs have been given huge pay rises, and all for what? Look how those people that built this country up after the last World War have had most all of thier savings stolen by Brown's Tax Hikes on Pension Funds, etc. The only incentive this Government give, is to get out.
- Carl Barron, Dorset
Take a walk around the streets of London and read the newspapers, and then take a good look at the cretins who are running the zoo. Only then will you understand why the country is losing a lot of its best people. You put garbage in you get garbage out. We are constantly fed a load of trash on the television, whether it is second rate news items to sixth rate celebrities on trash reality shows. Many people actually watch this stuff and even more believe they have talent. We have turned into a circus act which is just below mediocre. I now owe no allegiance to this country and could not really care less about the future of this once great nation. If I could I would leave tomorrow and not even bother to take a look back.
- Stephen D., London, England
