Does Immigration Offer More Advantage or Disadvantage for the UK - Coursework Example

Does Immigration Offer More Advantage or Disadvantage for the UK? Introduction Immigrant offer more advantage than a disadvantage for the UK because their input into the economy surpasses the challenges posed by immigration, for instance, tackling social issues such as increased population. Since 2000, immigrants to the country have made a significant contribution to the public purse, particularly, immigrants from the EEA (European Economic Area). Essentially, immigrants in the UK pay more taxes than the services and benefits they receive. Most immigrants to the UK pursue education and their knowledge, and skills are critical in driving economic development. Economic development in any country depends on the ability of the human capital to engage in various activities meant to improve, for instance, service delivery and infrastructure development. Most of these immigrants come to the country with the intention of working hard to send money to their family back home (Elsner, 2013). This is because, UK compared to other countries, for instance, in the developing world, provide an opportunity for the educated to earn by using their talents. Other than an emphasis on education as a driving force of economic development, the country can also exploit the entrepreneurial ability of the immigrants in the UK. While an increased immigration to the country adds to social challenges such as crime and increased population, the benefits that the UK government can derive from immigrants is greater than the challenges posed by an increased immigration to the countries. Such challenges can be mitigated by better policies for social problems. With the implementation of better policies, the country can tackle housing shortages and create more employment opportunities. Shortage of housing due to increased population, crime and high unemployment rate in the country have been the major deterrent factors for the government to exploit the benefits that immigrants can bring to the UK (Elsner, 2013). The benefits that immigrants bring to the UK Most immigrants moving abroad are driven to seek employment opportunities in the developed world. The UK being one of the developed countries in the world where systems are functions offer immigrants the best opportunities to advance their careers while also contributing to their countries economic development through the money reimbursed back home. In addition, most of the immigrants hold vast skills and experience in various fields that the UK can exploit to drive development in different sectors of the economy. While there are immigrants with special skills, there are also those who can fill the gap in the blue-collar sector where most citizens are not willing to take job offers because of meagre pay. In this regard, the UK can benefit from the services offered by the semi-skilled immigrants who are willing to take jobs in the blue-collar sector. As a country that is advanced in terms of development. There is still need for labourers to work on the farms, construction and repairs (Gheasi et al. 2013). On the other hand, most immigrants also possess special skills that the UK government can exploit in terms of improving a knowledge base economy. For instance, immigrants with high academic credentials can be absorbed into the country’s education system to improve academic standards in the country. Some of the immigrants possess unique qualifications that when allowed to work in the country’s academic institutions can help to improve areas of research and development. For instance, the field of biotechnology in an area that the country still needs to improve to match the biotechnology sector in countries such as the U.S and Germany. As such, immigrants with the right academic qualifications offer the country an opportunity to improve their R&D capabilities (Gheasi et al. 2013). Further, more immigrants absorbed in the blue-collar jobs will help the country fast track the delivery of services. As the population in the country continues to surge, there is the need for more housing facilities and other infrastructure development such as roads, hospitals and schools. However, since there is a shortage of labourers in this sector, the UK government can accommodate immigrants with various skills to help in the development of various human services in the country (Kangasniemi et al. 2012). While it may seem that the wages paid to immigrants is high, the tax income that the government generates from the immigrants is also significant. This is because; this income can be channelled back to the economy to fast-track various development projects geared at improving service delivery to the UK citizens. Since the economy of the UK is also driven by the industrial development, this sector also needs people to work in their production plants. However, most of the UK citizens are shifting to other sectors of the economy such as the service sector and thus leaving most industries in the country with shortages of human capital (Kangasniemi et al. 2012). As such, immigrants with the appropriate skills can fill the gap left in the industrial sector. The UK is among the forerunners in the world in terms of industrial development and in order for these traditional industries to continue functioning; they need workers in their production plants. In addition, capitalising on the input of the immigrants will help the UK industries to cut on the production costs that are caused by delays in the delivery of their products in the market due to shortages of workers. The country’s industries have moved most of their production plants to other countries such as the Far East to take advantage of the cheap labour in those countries. However, instead of moving homegrown industries to other countries, the UK industries can employ immigrants seeking job opportunity in their factories (Lipsmeyer & Zhu, 2011). While their wages for immigrants might be lower compared to the locals, what they earn is still enough for their survival compared to the hardships in their countries. This is because, they can use what they earn to live in a modest house and still send money back home to support their families. In addition, since most of the locals work in white-collar jobs, fewer people are left to do menial jobs. However, the immigrants are willing to fill these positions because their major driving force is to earn a living and support their families back in the home country. Some of the immigrants lack any form of education, and the UK can enlist them into menial jobs such as gardening and other repair work, for instance (Green et al, 2009). The immigrants not only add value to the knowledge base economy and the informal sector, but also attracting investment to the country. Some of the immigrants are business people who come to the UK with an intention of setting up businesses in the country. The UK government should take advantage of this opportunity because these investors help to create employment opportunity in the country and improve the living standards of the UK citizens. Further, some of the immigrants are wealthy, but cannot invest in their countries because of political instability, for instance (Dustmann & Frattini, 2014). As such, allowing foreign investment in the country helps to fast track the development of various sectors of the economy. The immigrants also help drive economic development in the UK by setting up small businesses in various parts of the country. The small businesses established by immigrants in the country range from restaurants, grocery stores to boutiques. On the other hand, the government collects tax revenues from this small business, which it uses in the development of other sectors of the economy (Dustmann & Frattini, 2014). Other than the tax revenue that the UK government generates from the immigrants working in various sectors of the economy, the country can also benefit from the cultural diversity that immigrants bring to the UK. Because the world has become a global village, it is important for the locals also to learn and accommodate other cultures from different parts of the world. This is because UK citizens also migrate to other countries and can benefit from learning different cultures from the immigrants in the UK prior to moving across borders (Elsner, 2013). On another note, the UK is among the leading donor countries that provide aid to the developing world and funds the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions that offer loans and grants to the Developing countries across the world. As such, a huge chunk of the public purse goes towards donor funding which can be reduced by allowing immigrants to work in the UK economy. By allowing immigrants to work in the UK, the money they earn is reimbursed back home where their families use to improve their leaving standards. For example, the money earned by immigrant working abroad can be used back home to establish a business, take children to school and build a shelter for the family members. In addition, immigrants also play an important role in driving economic development in their home countries. For instance, immigrants have helped to set up various development projects in their communities and allow their governments to focus on other areas of the economy that needs urgent attention (Lipsmeyer & Zhu, 2011). The money sent by immigrants back to their home countries runs into millions annually increases the circulation of money in their home countries economies. As such, the circulation of money in the economy helps to drive various developmental activities such as construction of schools, hospitals and roads to improve the lives of people in the developing countries. In this regard, allowing immigrants to work in the UK eases the country’s responsibility of donating more funds to aid the developing world to eradicate poverty, fight diseases, improve education, food security and to fast track infrastructure development (Lipsmeyer& Zhu, 2011). On the contrary, while there are more advantages than disadvantages of immigrants for the UK, the countries still face a number of challenges directly associated with immigrants. These include an increase in crime rate, overcrowding and most recently, the threat of terrorism. This has left policymakers with no option, but to implement stringent immigration laws. The crime rate is can be associated with immigrants because some of them move to the UK illegally and cannot find a decent job due to lack of legal documents required to secure employment. As such, their only means of survival is to engage in illicit activities. On the other hand, due to the increased population of immigrants in the UK, there seems to be overcrowding in some areas of the country. The overcrowding to some extent is also associated with the social ills evident in some parts of the country dominated by immigrants. As such, an increase in the population of immigrants means that the government has to use more funds from the public funds to provide various services to the immigrants yet some of the immigrants are in the country illegally and do not pay their taxes (Manacorda et al. 2012). In recent times, the rise in global terrorism also acts as a hindrance for the policymakers to soften their stance on immigration to the UK. Apart from the homegrown terrorist, immigrant from countries where radicalisation is predominant offers threat to the country, and there is the need for the government to implement strict laws on immigration to the UK. However, most of the disadvantages that immigration brings to the UK are fewer, and the government can implement proper policies that target some of the challenges brought by immigration (Lisenkova et al. 2014). For example, there is the need for policies that target the development of cheaper housing facilities to ensure that low-income earners can afford a shelter of their own and avoid overcrowding evident in some areas of the country. The government can also establish appropriate ways of tracking illegal immigrants and making sure they are assisted or deported in case their reason for the stay in the country is not clear. With regard to tackling global terrorism, the UK government needs to improve its homeland security to avoid loopholes that can be exploited by terrorists (Lisenkova et al. 2014). Conclusion Most countries and particularly, the developed countries are normally not comfortable with an increase of immigrants. This is because; an increase in population is seen to create constraint in terms of government spending. However, while immigration causes constraints for governments, they also contribute to the public purse by paying taxes. Other than paying taxes, immigrants also provide the UK economy with the human capital needed to drive economic development. However, while absorbing immigrants into the UK job market, it is important for the government to ensure that citizens are given priority. On the other hand, while it is important to prioritise citizen’s needs, the UK government also needs to consider the input that highly qualified and experienced immigrants can add to the country’s economic development. References Dustmann, C., & Frattini, T., 2014. The fiscal effects of immigration to the UK.Economic Journal, 124(580), 593-643. Elsner, B., 2013.Does emigration benefit the stayers? evidence from EU enlargement. Journal of Population Economics, 26(2), 531-553. Gheasi, M., Nijkamp, P., & Rietveld, P., 2013. Migration and foreign direct investment: education matters.Annals of Regional Science, 51(1), 73-87. 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