Immigration Watch International (2): UK relaxes immigration rules for construction workers as Brexit labour shortages bite

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

UK relaxes immigration rules for construction workers as Brexit labour shortages bite

The government has been forced to relax immigration rules for construction workers after it was warned that new Brexit red tape is causing labour shortages on building sites.

Bricklayers, roofers, carpenters and plasterers are among occupations who will again find it easier to come and work in Britain after the Home Office added the trades to its “shortage occupation list”.

The government’s Migration Advisory Committee said in March that the “decision to leave the EU with the consequent ending of freedom of movement”, as well as Covid-19, had had “significant effects” on the industry.

Despite a push to train more domestic workers and attempts to improve recruitment and retention to fill vacancies, the construction sector was still suffering from “shortages which do not show signs of abating”, the committee said.

But under the latest change confirmed by the Home Office on Monday, businesses will now be able to recruit from abroad without having to meet such stringent sponsorship requirements.

Construction industry groups welcomed the change but said there were deeper problems that needed addressing to permanently close the labour shortfall and fill vacancies.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, accused the government of “tinkering” with a “bureaucratic” system.

The number of vacancies in the construction sector was 65 per cent higher in the three months to January 2023 compared to immediately before the pandemic in March 2020, the Migration Advisory Committee said.

Figures published separately by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies show there was a sharp climb in construction job vacancies at the end of last year, with 21,367 as of December 2022.

These numbers represented a 121 per cent rise compared with the previous month and a 199 per cent increase on December 2021.

“It is vital that construction is able to fill vacancies and quickly address shortages around particular roles, so we welcome the news that five occupations will be added to the Shortage Occupations List which will help the industry continue to deliver the schools, homes, hospitals and infrastructure that we need,” said Suzannah Nichol MBE, chief executive of industry body Build UK.

Rico Wojtulewicz, head of housing and planning policy at the National Federation of Builders, also welcomed the change but said long-term reform to planning and procurement was needed if UK companies were ever to be able to train their own workers.

“It’s great that the government is listening to the industry’s long campaign to add these desperately needed roles to the SOL. Foreign workers remain vital to make up for a shortfall in the UK construction workforce,” he told The Independent.

“However, that shortfall is worth exploring because while the government is correct in wanting to train British people, it cannot achieve that in any great number if the planning and procurement process remains broken.

“This is because SMEs train 7 in 10 construction apprentices and make up 90 per cent of training capacity, but as they cannot establish pipelines of work and struggle with a delay-ridden planning system, they ultimately cannot afford to train or retain enough staff as directly employed labour.”

Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: “We need an economic migration system that works for the British economy, while treating everyone with dignity and respect.

“Tinkering with the edges of the shortage occupations list just papers over the cracks of the Conservatives’ awful system. Their rules are bureaucratic, arbitrary, and don’t allow employers to recruit the workers they need.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-immigration-labour-shortages-construction-b2376790.html

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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Background

Postings from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.) -- former member of the Australia-Soviet Friendship Society, former anarcho-capitalist and former member of the British Conservative party.

Why is "La Raza" the one Spanish term that is NEVER translated in the American mass media? Because translating it would make it a lot less respectable. It means "THE RACE" -- The mixed Hispanic "race" of Mexico. Racism is fine South of the Rio Grande only, apparently.

The "line" of this blog is that immigration should be SELECTIVE. That means that:

1). A national government should be in control of it. The U.S. and U.K. governments are not but the Australian government has shown that the government of a prosperous Western country can be. Up until its loss of office in 2007, the conservative Howard government had all but eliminated illegal immigration. The present Leftist government has however restarted the flow of illegals by repealing many of the Howard government regulations.

2). Selectivity should be based on "the content of a man's character, not on the color of his skin", as MLK said. To expand that a little: Immigrants should only be accepted if they as individuals seem likely to make a positive net contribution to the country. Many "refugees" would fail that test: Muslims and Africans particularly. Educational level should usually be a pretty fair proxy for the individual's likely value to the receiving country. There will, of course, be exceptions but it is nonetheless unlikely that a person who has not successfully completed High School will make a net positive contribution to a modern Western society.

3). Immigrants should be neither barred NOR ACCEPTED solely because they are of some particular ethnic origin. Blacks are vastly more likely to be criminal than are whites or Chinese, for instance, but some whites and some Chinese are criminal. It is the criminality that should matter, not the race.

4). The above ideas are not particularly blue-sky. They roughly describe the policies of the country where I live -- Australia. I am critical of Australian policy only insofar as the "refugee" category for admission is concerned. All governments have tended to admit as refugees many undesirables. It seems to me that more should be required of them before refugees are admitted -- for instance a higher level of education or a business background.

5). Perhaps the most amusing assertion in the immigration debate is that high-income countries like the USA and Britain NEED illegal immigrants to do low-paid menial work. "Who will pick our crops?" (etc.) is the cry. How odd it is then that Australians get all the normal services of a modern economy WITHOUT illegal immigrants! Yes: Before the pandemic, you usually COULD buy a lettuce in Australia for a dollar or thereabouts. And Australia IS a major exporter of primary products.

6). I am a libertarian conservative so I reject the "open door" policy favoured by many libertarians and many Leftists. Both those groups tend to have a love of simplistic generalizations that fail to deal with the complexity of the real world. It seems to me that if a person has the right to say whom he/she will have living with him/her in his/her own house, so a nation has the right to admit to living among them only those individuals whom they choose.

I can be reached on jonjayray@hotmail.com -- or leave a comment on any post. Abusive comments will be deleted.

Immigration Watch International (2)

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

UK relaxes immigration rules for construction workers as Brexit labour shortages bite

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