The MD of technical recruiter CBSbutler, David Leyshon, believes that the government should tighten up immigration rules to ensure that highly skilled migrant workers from non European countries are not stuck in menial roles.
Research from the Home Office shows that nearly 1 in 3 highly skilled non-EU workers, who arrived in the UK on Tier 1 visas, are now in menial jobs such as security guards or shop workers.
These individuals were brought into the country for specific sectors such as IT or construction. At the time there was a high demand for their skills but in the last 18 months the demand has declined and although the workers came here on Tier 1 visas, there is now no work for them in their specific role. Leyshon wants to see the government enforce the Tier 1 guidelines, which say a specific job must be waiting for an immigrant.
Meanwhile, the temporary immigration cap is having an adverse effect on recruitment in the care, construction, manufacturing and logistics sectors, according to de Poel. One in five recruiters say they are now finding it harder to recruit skilled staff. The CEO of de Poel says that the government should rethink the immigration system so that the economic recovery is not harmed and ensuring that migrants cannot undercut British jobseekers and contractors.
There are also concerns that a permanent cap on skilled non-EU migrant workers will mean the UK is unable to recruit the 70,000 engineers it needs for the renewable energy sector.
Earlier this week David Cameron announced that the construction of new offshore wind turbines would create 70,000 jobs in the green energy sector. He also said that the government would do nothing to impede British companies from recruiting highly skilled workers from around the globe.
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