- Reaction score
- 105
" …………..that doesn't mean British taxpayers are the losers from migration. Quite the opposite. All the evidence suggests that migrants – especially migrants from the new EU member states – are net contributors to the public purse, not a drain. A Study from the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration found that the latter paid in via taxes about 30% more than they cost our public services. In particular, they were far less likely to claim benefits and tax credits, and far less likely to live in social housing.
Focusing more specifically on the benefit system, the contrast becomes even starker. Raab claims that there are more than half a million "unemployed" EU citizens in the UK (compared with the national total of about 2.5 million). This is wrong: there are half a million EU citizens who are not in work, but some are retired, and some out of the labour market for other reasons. By Raab's definition, there would be more than 15 million unemployed Britons! In fact, employment rates for EU citizens – especially those from the new member states – are considerably higher than for the UK-born.
And even those who aren't working are considerably less likely than those born in the UK to claim benefits. According to figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), of the roughly 1.8 million people from elsewhere in the EU of working age, about 90,000 are claiming an "out of work benefit", or about 5%. That compares with about 13% for natives. Equally, migrants from outside the EU are much less likely to claim benefits than natives. And as for Bulgarians and Romanians, although there are already at least 140,000 in the UK, neither shows up in the top 20 countries of origin for foreign benefit claimants, suggesting the numbers to date are minimal."
Source: CReAM: Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration
Focusing more specifically on the benefit system, the contrast becomes even starker. Raab claims that there are more than half a million "unemployed" EU citizens in the UK (compared with the national total of about 2.5 million). This is wrong: there are half a million EU citizens who are not in work, but some are retired, and some out of the labour market for other reasons. By Raab's definition, there would be more than 15 million unemployed Britons! In fact, employment rates for EU citizens – especially those from the new member states – are considerably higher than for the UK-born.
And even those who aren't working are considerably less likely than those born in the UK to claim benefits. According to figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), of the roughly 1.8 million people from elsewhere in the EU of working age, about 90,000 are claiming an "out of work benefit", or about 5%. That compares with about 13% for natives. Equally, migrants from outside the EU are much less likely to claim benefits than natives. And as for Bulgarians and Romanians, although there are already at least 140,000 in the UK, neither shows up in the top 20 countries of origin for foreign benefit claimants, suggesting the numbers to date are minimal."
Source: CReAM: Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration