Employee Relations: Free Movement of Labor - Essay Example

The movement of labor had several impacts on the economy of the countries and the movement also had social effects on the country including Great Britain. Movement of labor takes place in the EU due to reasons like an opportunity for one to get a job in other countries. A person can move to another country in search of jobs because of fewer barriers in EU member states. Relaxation by the EU member states in migrant requirements like work permits and visa requirements has increased labor movements. They are also other personal issues like job searches, career development, and high income provided by other EU member states. Conversely, the increase in labor movements in the EU has been seen to have social impacts on EU countries.

According to Vucheva (2013), cases of protests by British workers have risen because of labor movements. British oil workers recently protested blaming authorities for employing workers from foreign countries leaving them jobless. According to Parker (2009), most of the migrants to the UK are young people between the age of 18 and 34 who contribute highly to the workforce of any organization since they are young as compared to the population of the country.

Additionally, organizations benefit from the skills of different workers contributed to by labor movements. The facts are that workers moving to the UK have different skills. Conversely, this will be a blow to their country of origin because skills that would have contributed to high production and an increase in the economy are taken away. Most of the native British workers go for jobs that require skilled labor leaving jobs that require fewer skills like catering or bus driving. The benefit to the British workers is that they would not have to take jobs that require less skill because the migrants who have fewer skills and are suited for such jobs would take them.

Parker (2009) shows that most non-skilled workers earn less than ? 25,000 on jobs to which British natives do not pay much attention including housekeeping or warehouse keeping, cleaning, and farm jobs. Despite the benefits of the labor movement in the EU to the British government, they are also some disadvantages for British workers. As pointed out above, there have been numerous strikes by British workers, Parker (2009) points out the same issue and explains that cases like crowding out of workers happen due to the huge labor force in the industry.

This means that foreigners will fill up jobs that are preserved for the unemployed population. Labor movements affect the economy of the country because most of the migrants or workers move in search of high-wage jobs from their economy that might be less productive and provide low wages. The economy of the country will increase because the workers who have moved to the country increase aggregate production because of the increase in labor and aggregate demand. As pointed out above, other jobs available in countries where workers are moving to are not done by the natives, and because of this, the labor movement will take up such jobs hence increasing production in the country.

In the United Kingdom, the economy has risen due to an increase in the labor force brought in by foreigners. The labor movement has increased competition and led to more innovation. Research has also revealed that most foreign workers contribute more taxes to the government. Additionally, foreign workers having high skills contribute more to the economy in the form of taxes because of their higher wages. Additionally, the movement of labor is beneficial to the UK because foreign workers reduce inflation because they are offered wages, which are less than what would have been paid to natives (Dobson 2009).

Conversely, labor movements also have negative impacts on the economy; according to Bento and Petrovic (2013), labor movements in the EU have lowered wage rates because of high competition due to the high number of skilled workers flowing into the country. The authors show that for every 100 immigrant workers from other EU countries flowing to the UK, there is a correlated loss of jobs or an increase in cases of unemployment.