Are immigrants taking jobs from British youth or not?

THREE reports this week have presented three different views on whether there is a link between immigration and unemployment in Britain. A report by Migrationwatch suggested there was a correlation between the influx of workers from Eastern Europe since 2004 and a rise in UK youth unemployment. This was followed by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research report which said there was no significant impact from immigration on jobless benefit claimants. Then a Home Office-commissioned Migration Advisory Committee (Mac) report found an "association" between non-EU immigration and job losses among those born in Britain. So who is right?  
 
Comparing apples and oranges
 
It's possible they are all right, says Danny Shaw on BBC News. They all looked at slightly different things. The Mac report is “the most persuasive” because it draws on in-depth analysis and research and “it just makes sense”. It argues the effects of non-EU migration are most keenly felt in the economic bad times, when vacancies are scarce, and in the short-term, before the labour market has time to adjust. 
 
Why not link economic growth to penis size?
 
You could be forgiven for thinking that Migrationwatch’s new report was a smoking gun against immigration, says Sam Bowman in The Spectator. But a closer look quickly reveals “how implausible these claims are”.  The report centres on a comparison of rising youth unemployment and rising immigration. 
 
The labour market is not a fixed pie, with a certain number of jobs to dole out to whoever is next in line, says Bowman. Jobs are contingent on education, work ethic and demanded pay, which, as Migrationwatch admits, are often stronger among Eastern European immigrants than British youth. Their study offers “junk statistics, akin to an economics paper linking penis size to economic growth”. 
 
Foreigners do take our jobs
 
At last, the facts, says an editorial in the Daily Mail. The Mac report finds that “foreign workers do indeed take jobs that would otherwise go to Britons who are qualified and willing to do them”. Significantly, it finds that unemployment is caused by migration from outside Europe which, unlike the influx from EU nations, the government has the power to control. Will they? Or will they “carry on the economic madness of letting foreigners do the work while Britons languish on the dole”.
 
Only partial picture
 
The Mac report offers a very partial picture of the overall impact of migration on Britain, says Alan Travis in The Guardian. It focuses on non-EU immigration, because this is all Home Office can control. But the figures are relatively minor, suggesting the non UK-born workers, have displaced 160,000 British workers over five years (around 32,000 a year) during the recession. Set against the current UK unemployment level of 2.64 million it can’t be seen as “the main driving force behind the rising jobless figures”.
  
Stop the scaremongering
 
Britain clearly has a youth unemployment problem, says Matt Cavanagh in The New Statesman. But its causes are “too complex to be reduced to blaming immigration” or endlessly repeating headlines about “foreigners taking all the new jobs”. New migrants compete for jobs with existing residents, “but they also fill gaps, make our labour market more flexible, and bring energy and creativity, all of which promote growth ­ meaning more jobs to go around”.
 
The overall effect is generally positive, adds Cavanagh, but the net effect on different groups within the economy is harder to assess. This needs careful research, and honest presentation, “not the kind of scaremongering which the media has let MigrationWatch get away with for too long”.   ·