Half of east Europe migrants go home

[mawilson 2,133]

Half the central and eastern European nationals who came to work in Britain in the

four years since EU enlargement have returned home, according to new research

suggesting that fears of an ever-expanding migrant population are unfounded.

About 1m workers from eight accession countries – the so-called A8 – have arrived

in Britain since 2004, a respected think-tank said on Wednesday, a far bigger inflow

than the government initially expected.

But the Institute for Public Policy Research estimated that half this group had already

left Britain, with the current population of A8, Bulgarian and Romanian nationals

numbering about 665,000 – an increase of 550,000 since early 2004.

“The myth has been that everyone who’s ever arrived is still here ... but the perception

is higher than the reality,” said Danny Sriskandarajah, one of the report’s authors.

Britain does not count people in and out of its borders, as some countries do. The

IPPR study addresses the crucial question of how many migrants from the latest influx

have returned home, the answer to which is vital to determining the long-term impact

EU enlargement will have on Britain’s labour force and on policy for non-EU migrants.

The IPPR based its estimates on a survey of Poles, now the largest group of foreign

nationals in Britain, who had returned to Poland after a stay of three months or more,

using its findings alongside a range of administrative and survey data. It stressed the

limitations of all these sources, but said it was clear that current patterns of mobility

and migration were very different from those of past waves of migration to Britain,

when most settled.

Mr Sriskandarajah said he expected the UK population of accession country nationals

to stabilise “very soon”. He said numbers of new arrivals would fall consistently in the

next few years as job prospects in Poland improved relative to Britain and as other

EU countries loosened labour market restrictions.

But while the report confounds perceptions that all accession migrants will stay in Britain,

it also suggests recent speculation that Poles are streaming out of the UK may be

overstated. The survey the IPPR conducted in Poland suggests some migrants will

continue to travel back and forth for short stays or seasonal work.

Mr Sriskandarajah predicted those who chose to stay in Britain permanently were “likely

to be those who are the most successful”, including those who found it easier to run a

business in this country.

He argued policy needed to adapt to more transitory patterns of migration, adding that

if arrivals did slow dramatically some employers could find it hard to fill low-skilled

vacancies now closed to non-EU migrants.

The IPPR also highlighted the extent to which the latest migrants had spread across

Britain, with Poles registered in every local authority and large numbers working in

Scotland, Northern Ireland, the east and south west, regions that had previously

attracted very few migrants.

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[Ban Hammer 13,641]

the english language did them in.

[PlatyPius 5]

the english language did them in.

It was probably the food.....

[Alex & Rachel 78]

Another report I read cited the bad weather and lack of easy access to the NHS as being two major reasons why people are leaving.

Can't say I blame them...we may have higher wages, but our taxes and rent prices and general cost of living also tend to be higher. It's not much of a life if you're sharing small living accommodations and are apart from your families, too.