200,000 jobs barred to non-European migrants
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Wednesday November 12 2008
The Guardian
Two hundred thousand skilled jobs in Britain will be closed to non-
European migrants from November 27, when the new points-based
immigration system comes into effect, the Home Office announced
yesterday.
The official shortage occupations list, published yesterday, which
will be opened to skilled workers from outside Europe, covers 800,000
jobs, compared with the estimated 1m vacancies covered by the existing
work permit system. The largest occupations being closed to non-EU
migrants are doctors, secondary school teachers and most nursing jobs.
The final list of professions covers 100,000 posts more than the
provisional list proposed by the migration advisory committee, which
is made up of labour market economists. The flow of skilled migration
from outside Europe is expected to fall by between 30,000 and 70,000
people a year as a result of the introduction of the shortage
occupation list.
The Home Office said that social workers were being added to the list
- a decision that was welcomed by the British Association of Social
Workers, which said 12% of social work posts remained unfilled across
the country.
The borders and immigration minister, Phil Woolas, said that he had
also asked the migration advisory committee to further review the
position of skilled chefs, senior care workers, qualified town
planners and teachers by next March.
The shortage list defines a skilled chef as earning at least £
8.10 an hour and a senior care worker as earning at least £8.80
an hour - requirements that have drawn strong protests both from the
ethnic catering industry and social care sector. In schools, only
maths and science teaching posts have been declared open to overseas
migrants.
The shortage occupation list forms the basis of tier two of the new
five-tier points-based system, coming into effect later this month.
Under tier two, companies must pass the resident labour market test -
advertise the job for between two and four weeks in Britain before
they can recruit someone from outside Europe. Applicants must have
English language skills, enough money to support themselves for the
first month, and prospective earnings of more than £24,000.
As well as expected shortage occupations, such as chemical engineers
and construction managers, the official list also includes more
unusual jobs such as sheep shearers and ballet dancers - although the
latter have to be up to Royal Ballet standards to qualify. In
Scotland, the jobs of speech therapists, nurses in care units for
elderly people and frozen-fish filleters will also be open to non-EU
migrants.
Woolas said yesterday that had the new system been in place last year,
there would have been 12% fewer people coming into Britain through the
work permit route: "On top of this, the strict new shortage list means
200,000 fewer jobs are available via the shortage occupation route."
Professor David Metcalf, the migration advisory group chairman, said
the government had decided that social workers would be on the list
for a transitional period while his committee reviewed the evidence of
a shortage.
"This evidence was not submitted in time for our first report. We will
continue to review any evidence and update the list if necessary."
Heather Wakefield, of Unison, the public sector union, said that
ministers should make sure that their "tough stance" on migration did
not harm vulnerable people.
"The social care sector would collapse without highly skilled migrant
workers who keep care homes, homecare services and social work teams
running."
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008
Britain closes 200,000 jobs to non-Europeans migrants 
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