Migrants arriving in UK outpace leavers
By Andrew Taylor, Employment Correspondent
Published: November 3 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 3 2006 02:00
The UK population increased last year at the rate of 500 people a day as the number of new immigrants outpaced those leaving the country, according to official figures.
A net annual inflow of 185,000, although 38,000 fewer than in the previous year, was the second highest since records began in 1991, said the Office for National Statistics.
ADVERTISEMENT
The availability of large numbers of immigrants has helped fill skills shortages and restricted wage inflation during a period of relatively low unemployment. The increased labour supply may also explain why employment and joblessness recently have been rising at the same time.
Concern that high numbers of immigrants, particularly from the eight eastern European accession countries (A8) that joined the EU in 2004, may place an increasing stain on local services has prompted the government to announce restrictions on workers from Bulgaria and Romania when they join the EU next year.
Economists say that the number of migrant workers is likely to be much greater than that estimated by official figures that do not include unregistered workers from A8 countries, visitors who decide to stay on and take a job and self- employed workers.
Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, told a parliamentary committee this week that more accurate estimates were needed of the total size of the UK population.
According to the ONS 565,000 people arrived to live in Britain during 2005. About 49,000 came from Poland, three times as many as in 2004. The biggest tranche, however, continues to come from "New Commonwealth" countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Net inward migration from the New Commonwealth countries, which exclude Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, nonetheless fell by 26,000 to 97,000 last year. This compared with a 15,000 rise to 64,000 from A8 countries, said the ONS.
At the same time 380,000 people left the UK.
Australia was the favourite location for about 20 per cent of citizens, followed by Spain and France, the figures revealed.
英国去年接纳56.5万新移民
英国《金融时报》就业记者安德鲁?泰勒(Andrew Taylor)报道
2006年11月3日 星期五
英国国家统计局(Office for National Statistics)数据显示，英国人口去年以每天500人的速度增加，因为移居英国的人数超过了离开英国的人数。
英国国家统计局称，去年英国人口净流入18.5万，尽管比前一年度少3.8万，但仍是自1991年有记录以来的次高值。
在这个失业率相对较低的时期，大量移民的到来帮助填补了英国的技术工人缺口，抑制了薪资的上涨。劳动力供应的增加或许也说明了近来就业和失业人数同时上升的原因。
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
由于担心大批移民的到来――特别是来自2004年新加入欧盟的东欧八国(A8)的移民，也许会对本地服务带来越来越大的负担，英国政府已宣布，在明年保加利亚和罗马尼亚加入欧盟时，将对来自这两个国家的工人进行限制。
经济学家们表示，移民工人的数量很可能远高于官方的估计数据，因为官方数据不包括来自东欧八国没有登记在册的工人、决定留下来工作的游客和自由职业者。
英国央行行长默文?金(Mervyn King)本周对议会的一个委员会表示，需要对英国人口总体规模进行更精确的评估。
英国国家统计局的数据显示，在2005年，共有56.5万人到英国定居，其中约有4.9万人来自波兰，规模是2004年的3倍；但人数最多的仍是“新联邦”(New Commonwealth)国家，如印度、巴基斯坦、孟加拉和斯里兰卡。
与此同时，去年有38万人离开英国。
数据显示，在离开本土的英国公民中，前往澳大利亚的人最多，约占20%，其次是西班牙和法国。
