The Value of Migration in the UK - Essay Example

?The Value of Migration in the U.K. Migration, fraught with controversy, figures prominently in the U.K. political debate in which it is appraised positively by some and negatively regarded by others. While the antagonists to migration point out that any loopholes that facilitate immigration must be closed whereas some argue for open borders. One cannot close one’s eyes to the assets of migrants to economy and culture. There has been discussion “about some of the ways in which migration has been understood in recent times through an emphasis on numbers, on categorising, and on evaluating what migrants are worth” (Raghuram 2009, DD101). Raghuram here implies that a cost has to be affixed to migration. According to Migration Watch U.K., an anti-migration group, the negative impact of migration on the U.K. economy has demanded that lawmakers tighten the influx of migrants to Britain's shores.  The question arises concerning the identity of a migrant and the restriction over ports of entry. Many migrants migrate to foreign countries primarily to attain a better standard of living for themselves and their families. Others migrate for political instability and even disasters. For whatever the reason, migration changes the face of a country. On one hand, some xenophobically assert the negative impact of migration and its posing threat to economic stability and identity, driving legislators to stiffen regulations toward aliens moving toward the U.K. borders. On the other, some British see the advantages of cheaper labour and the actual and potential spending power of migrants as consumers. There are many varying views on migration and the impact it has on the U.K. economy. Some argue that migration benefits the U.K.. economy through the taxes, their financial contributions to industry as consumers and the potential taxpayers in their children. Migrants also pump billions of dollars into the economy through their hefty expenditure, ultimately boosting economy growth. One reports demonstrates that the “total revenue from immigrants grew in real terms from ?33.8 billion in 1999–2000 to ?41.2 billion in 2003–04 (Berkeley 2010, p. 165). As a matter of fact, the “taxes paid by migrants help to subsidise the non-migrant population (Berkeley 2010, p. 169). In addition, a U.K government report released in 2002 affirms that “migrants are worth $2.5 billion pounds.” (Berkeley 2010, p. 166). Far from being represented as a drain on the U.K economy here, migration is shown to actually pay. The very fact that migrants deposit money into the economy by their very presence and residence means that migration is an advantage for the British people. One cannot forget in this equation that money is seldom stagnant; instead its movement is described as circulatory. It passes from one entity to another. What cannot be omitted in considering migration is the unquantifiable value that migrants bring to the U.K. Diaspora is a term used to refer to the phenomenon of the scattering of a people from the place of origin to several other foreign nations. The “Chinese diaspora is described as ‘entrepreneurial’, as many Chinese have travelled out to other countries in order to set up businesses while using links with China to help build their enterprises” (Berkeley 2010, p. 183). Many migrants have been uprooted from their motherlands, have settled and in time established thriving businesses. In the U.K. this dynamic is seen among most migrant populations with Nigerians, Indians, Chinese and many other ethnicities and nationalities undertaking business initiatives. Migrants also work menial jobs that average British citizen would refuse. As new entrants, financially, they are in precarious situations, therefore they take low skilled jobs and get paid below the minimum salary requirements. Undocumented workers certainly do take jobs that would otherwise go to legal workers; but undocumented workers also create demand that leads to new jobs. In this situation migrants take low skilled jobs and get paid below the minimum salary requirements yet boosting the economy through their labours and the revenue generated by production. In a document, “Selective Admission: Making Migration Work for Britain – CBI Official Response,” dated 2005, the Confederation of British Industries, an organisation which embodies independent British employers claims that “the UK needs more migrants to fill gaps in skills, to ‘widen the pool of available labour and help develop a more diverse, multicultural workforce’ (Berkeley 2010, p. 169). Here British employers welcome the labour that migrants bring along to UK shores. In the migration question, there stands the conflict of identities. Pertaining to the U.K., some British believe that the allowance of migration beyond certain limits would dilute or jeopardize ‘Britishness.’ The concern of the migrants altering the cultural landscape of the country is an argument against migration. David Goodhart, acclaimed BBC journalist points out that “as Britain becomes more diverse with that common culture is being eroded. And therein lies one of the central dilemmas of political life in developed societies: sharing and solidarity can conflict with diversity. Discomfort of strangers, “On Diversity, 2004” (Berkeley 2010, p. 226). With the advent of migrants, some feel that identity would be compromised and diversity can swallow up the distinguishing marks of Britishness. In applying Britishness to the question of migration, there lies a distinctiveness or sense of superiority with native identity, while despising what is foreign, alien and therefore unacceptable. Nevertheless, the U.K. is composed of an amalgamation of many diverse peoples and it is in this diversity of cultures that it may find its uniqueness. While some argue that migration erodes the foundation set by founding fathers, migration is an essential contributor to nation-building;. The U.K. is a nation built on the labours of migrants. From history, she is home for those fleeing misery and seeking a livelihood. The process of nation-building is indebted to migrants who moved and invested in a new community. One can gauge an estimation of the value of migration through the worth placed on the migrants themselves and the industries they help fuel. It is understood that migrants put high value on a foreign place or institution so that they take risks in leaving their native lands to gain a benefit. According to Raghuram (2009) “another way of theorising might be to ask what are the institutions and places where this value is accrued, from where qualifications get more global recognition, and why has this come to be?” (Raghuram 2009, DD101 p. 3). In this case, the push-pull theory in migration comes into play, seeing that a factor repels the migrant away from home and attracts him or her to another land. Again Raghuram confirms in Chapter 4 that “people decide to migrate by weighing up the economic costs and benefits of making a move, or staying ... (Berkeley 2010, 193). Hence one sees that migration does not only incur a cost to the UK but also to the migrants as well. On the other hand, migration would not imperil identity since incoming foreigners most times have to adapt to the host country. The processes of assimilation and acculturation would always direct newcomers to participation in the new culture and identity, while being true to their own. With the change of place, U.K. migrants would be constrained to speak a new language and conform to a different lifestyle. Hence one sees the cultural attrition as the migrant loses some of this customs in favour of the new. Separation from one’s origin and changed values, all reflect a certain level of alienation that comes with the territory in migration. Translocalism is defined as the migrants’ simultaneous attachment to the places they have left and the places which they move to” (Berkeley 2010, p. 187). Because of the knit to homeland and culture, and because of modernisation, urbanisation, and secularisation, the migrant to the experiences the distance from the homeland and at the same time becomes attached to the new country through emotional, financial or social ties. The richness of culture brought by migrants is of value to the U.K. Britain enjoys the enviable status that comes with the territory of being a mother country. Due to imperialist colonialism, the political and social affiliations to the U.K continue to last. As a result, the children of colonialism only return to the mother that indelibly marked their own identities. The tasty gastronomy of Asian food, the beautiful African clothing and the rhythmic mix of music and dance are considered very valuable to the U.K. David Blunkett, writing as former UK Home Secretary, asserts that “the values of openness, liberty and tolerance” as the UK multiculturalism burgeons. On the contrary, culture imported through migration is not appreciated as it should in the U.K. due to the heightened “evidence of deepening inequalities of income and wealth in the UK since the 1980s” (Berkeley 2010, p. 223). Some UK citizens do not validate foreign culture at all as shown by the growing xenophobic wave against migrants. Inequalities and perceived favour of one cross section of society over another kindles the flames of antagonisms that give birth to rioting and acts of violence. UK observers realise that the “the UK has been haunted by this sense that ‘everyone has their place,’ so that migrants (and subsequent generations of the children of migrants) should ‘go back’ to ‘where they belong/where they came from’ ” (Berkeley 2010, p. 235). This anti-migrant view is gaining ground so that migrants sometimes find themselves harassed and the victims of race crimes. These hostilities are only the fruit of the growing insecurity of the British citizenry and their desire to maintain control of what they deem as theirs. Anti-migrant trends would not embrace migrants and through stereotypes, advance facts to highlight the apparent injury or high cost of migrants to society. Both David Blunkett (former UK Home Secretary) and Trevor Phillips (former Chairman of Commission for Racial Equality) make a case for mutual tolerance in a diverse society – with a view of tolerance as a distinctive British virtue and value that can (and should) inform how people conduct themselves (Berkeley 2010, p. 224) The value of migration can never be fully tallied since tangible and intangible, calculable and incalculable elements are involved. One critic, Teressa Hayters, forwards the argument in her book, Open Borders: The Case Against Immigration Controls that “calculating the costs of migration would also involve recognising the costs paid by migrants themselves for obtaining information and passports, paying for travel and sometimes paying brokers who will help them to get past border controls. Others pay with their lives …” (Berkeley 2010, p. 170). In the migration discourse many critics attempt to rustle up data to substantiate claims and strengthen different points of view. Not only the existing businesses that sprout because of the high demand of migration in the UK should be counted, but also the human lives that have been saved (in the case of asylum) or lost (as in the dangerous travel of migrants packed like sardines in the crevices of boats). In sum, migration to the U.K is riddled with many questions concerning the worth or cost, each variable depending to a large extent on perspective. Migration takes place in the UK society in a way that evinces the dynamism of populations. The continuous movement of people in and out ultimately introduces change, whether wanted or not, in many different forms: emotionally, socially, linguistically and culturally. Separation from one’s origin assumes not meaning for the individual and for the nation as a whole. The migrant adopts a different identity whether naturalized or not – each culture mutually impacts the other. The appreciation of migration then hinges on the viewpoints of the individual in the social polemic. References Blackeley, G. Bromley, S & Jeffries, E (2010) Introducing the social sciences, 2nd ed, Open University, 2010. Raghuram, P. Thinking about migration, DD101 Introducing the social sciences, 2009. Read More