Titled 'Globalisation, population mobility and impact of migration on population', the booklet brings together work done by Professors John Salt, of University College, London, and Phil Rees, of the University of Leeds, as well as statistics and analyses produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In 2004, an estimated 223,000 more people migrated to the UK than moved abroad – a net inflow much higher than the previous year, when an estimated 151,000 more arrived to live here than left.
Professor Salt said: "Opening up of the labour market to citizens of the new member states of the EU from May 2004 initiated what is almost certainly the largest ever single wave of immigration the British Isles have ever experienced, with Poles the largest ever single national group of entrants."
Numbers of Central and Eastern European (CEE) nationals in the foreign work force have grown rapidly, reaching 169,000 - 11.2 per cent - in 2005. The EU15/EFTA countries make up 32 per cent of foreign workers and, in terms of single countries, the Irish remain clear leaders, though their dominance has fallen, from 22.6 per cent in 1995 to only 11.6 per cent in 2005.
In 2003, more than one-fifth of all in-migrants (114,000) came for work-related reasons and had a specific job to go to, and more than a quarter came to study here (135,000).
Professor Salt's analyses points out that while foreign workers in the UK have generally been more skilled than the domestic workforce, there are signs that this might be changing, probably due to the new immigration from CEE countries.
Numbers of people granted settlement have risen steadily over the last decade, while those of asylum seekers have fluctuated – falling in the past few years to less than one in 10 of all immigrants.
Projections from Professor Phil Rees, between now and 2020, show the White ethnic group growing only a little, due to continuing low fertility rates and smaller numbers of women of child-bearing age, along with higher deaths as the population ages.
London and the south east are forecast, in general, to continue seeing the greatest change, due to the region's capacity to create jobs. Professor Rees finds signs of movement among ethnic minority groups from the less vigorous economies of northern cities to southern ones.
There are also signs of net shifts to suburban and metropolitan rings in the London area. He forecasts that the Black population of Inner London will decline, and that by 2020, Outer London will take over from the central part of the capital as the most important region for ethnic minorities.
The booklet accompanies the third and last in a series of special seminars organised by the ESRC in conjunction with the ONS and the British Society for Population Studies (BSPS), at which policy departments and academic experts have discussed key issues for those who provide official data.
Jil Matheson, Director of Census, Demographic and Regional Statistics at the ONS, will chair the seminar, on July 21 in London. She said: "Understanding migration is key to many policy issues. The ONS has just established a cross-departmental task force, aimed at making recommendations for timely improvements to estimates of international migration. We welcome this seminar as providing an opportunity for discussion of the evidence underpinning this important and complex issue."
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR A COPY OF THE BOOKLET, CONTACT:
Amanda Williams at the ESRC on 01793 413126; e-mail: amanda.williams@esrc.ac.uk
Or visit the ESRC website at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
FOR QUERIES ON PRESS RELEASE OR BOOKLET, CONTACT:
Professor John Salt on 020 7679 5525; e-mail: jsalt@geog.ucl.ac.uk;
Professor Phil Rees on 0113 343 3341; e-mail: p.h.rees@leeds.ac.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
1. 'Globalisation, population mobility and impact of migration on population' is published by the ESRC to accompany a seminar in London on July 21 - the third of a series being organised with the ONS in conjunction with the British Society for Population Studies (BSPS). The others examined the impact of changes in British households and family formations, and the demographic aspects of Britain's ageing population.
2. Professor John Salt is Director of the Migration Research Unit at University College, London. Professor Phil Rees is at the School of Geography, University of Leeds. Views expressed are those of the authors, and not necessarily shared by the ONS.
3. The event is part of the Public Policy Seminar series, which directly addresses key issues faced by ESRC's key stakeholders in government, politics, the media, and the private and voluntary sectors. The first of the series organised with ONS examined the impact of changing family and household structures and of more complex living arrangements and the final seminar will address issues of globalisation, mobility, and the impact of migration.
4. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the government department providing UK statistical and registration services. It is responsible for producing a wide range of key economic and social statistics which are used by policy makers across government to create evidence-based policies and monitor performance against them. ONS builds and maintains data sources for its business and research customers and makes statistics available so that everyone can easily assess the state of the nation, the performance of government and their own position. More at www.statistics.gov.uk
5. The BSPS is a non-profitable society of persons with a scientific interest in the study of human populations. BSPS was founded in 1973, but originated in the 1960s. More at http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/BSPS/
6. The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC total expenditure in 2005 - 06 was £135million. At any time, the ESRC supports more than 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
7. ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research (formerly accessible via the Regard website) and key online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk