The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162760   Message #3877014
Posted By: Nigel Parsons
14-Sep-17 - 08:33 AM
Thread Name: BS: brexit matters
Subject: RE: BS: brexit matters
Steve.
If your message was "Germane to the conversation" then my correction of the 'facts' it contained must also have been.

As to your 'simplification of what the Guardian said:

You: Migrant workers do not take British workers' jobs.
The Guardian: "it is not a zero-sum game in which there are only a fixed number of jobs to go round: "It's true that, if an immigrant takes a job, then a British worker can't take that job – but it doesn't mean he or she won't find another one that may have been created, directly or indirectly, as a result of immigration". I doesn't say that he will find such a job, or try to state whether mass immigration creates more or less jobs than the number of immigrants.

You: Migrant workers do not "drive wages down."
The Guardian: "Several studies have shown a small negative effect of migration on the wages of low-skilled workers in certain sectors in certain parts of the country, particularly care workers, shop assistants, and restaurant and bar workers. The effect has been measured at less than 1% over a period of eight years." A small negative effect is, nonetheless an effect.

You: Migrant workers do not overload public services.
The Guardian: mentions this matter only in passing: "EU immigration has not harmed the pay, jobs or public services enjoyed by Britons."

You: Migrant workers actually create extra jobs by coming here.
The Guardian, does mention the creation of jobs because of immigration, but does not state whether this is a net gain in job numbers, or a net loss.