UK businesses missing out on migrant workers’ skills

‘Migrant workers in the labour market’ reveals how many migrant workers are trapped in low-skill, low-pay jobs with poor conditions that do not use their skills and experience gained back home. Too often they find themselves working well below their capabilities on the bottom of the jobs ladder, while British workers with similar skills and qualifications are much more senior. The research highlights a disturbing lack of awareness among employers about the skills and qualifications migrant workers can offer them, and a systematic failure to employ migrants in jobs that allow them both to use their existing skills and learn news ones to enable their careers to progress. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “For too long the skills and qualifications of migrant workers have been desperately undervalued. “Unions are working hard to develop learning and training strategies to persuade employers to recognise the qualifications of migrant workers, and employers need to wake up to the skills and potential these workers can offer. Trained migrant workers coming to the UK can fill gaps in our labour market, but business is failing to use their true skills. “It's clear unions, employers and the Government need to open up new routes to jobs for all those migrant workers our system has been failing. If we can make that difference, our economy will reap the benefits of a better qualified workforce.” The evidence in ‘Migrant workers in the labour market’ shows that – with the exception of the construction industry – employers are failing to seek advice from the National Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) on the comparability of international qualifications. The agency provides information on qualifications from 183 countries and can help employers recruit migrant workers into jobs that reflect their skills. However, 75% of the sector skills councils and regional chambers of commerce interviewed for the TUC report were making little use of the service. Some highly qualified migrant workers find it difficult to get even unskilled jobs because of a poor grasp of English. Free English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes used to help these workers, but the Government has recently changed the rules so there is no more universal access to ESOL, further limiting the labour mobility of higher skilled migrant workers.