UK firms addicted to cheap foreign labour – and British workers are sidelined

British firms are becoming more reliant on cheap foreign labour to plug gaps in their workforces, new research has revealed.

More than 70% of migrants who arrived last year are not earning enough money to make a “positive economic contribution” to the UK, the Centre for Migration Control said.

The think tank said research has indicated foreign workers must earn more than £38,000 to “break-even”.

But the number of migrants who are a burden to the taxpayer has increased over the past three years, with 55% earning less than £38,000 in 2022 and 51% in 2021.

Experts told the Daily Express this is down to the surge in foreign workers arriving in the UK on health and social care visas. Many feared this entry route was effectively a back door into the UK, with the sector still facing severe shortages despite an influx of workers on such visas.

Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control, said: “These figures confirm that the UK’s current immigration system is a huge economic burden, admitting hundreds of thousands of individuals who earn far less than is needed for them to “break-even”.

“Those coming to the country should be only the very best and brightest. It is a privilege to live and work in Britain, and one that we should not be awarding to those who offer us no economic advantage.”

The Centre for Migration Control, through Freedom of Information requests, analysed the salaries of migrants issued with Certificates of Sponsorships – which are required to hire foreign workers.

In 2023, the Home Office issued 308,510 CoSs. But only 90,460 of these people earned more than £38,000.

Just 4% of applications for Certificate of Sponsorships, in the year to March 2024, came from workers from within the EU.

Analysis shows that 31% came from Africa and 45% from South Asia.

Net migration hit a staggering 685,000 in the year to December, prompting the previous Government to launch a series of measures to reduce this number.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Tuesday announced a review into how some sectors of the UK economy depend on employees from overseas, claiming there has been a failure to teach British workers the right skills.

But Ms Cooper highlighted the IT and engineering sectors as two industries which have benefited from relaxed salary rules.

She said: “As a first step I am commissioning the MAC to review the reliance of key sectors on international recruitment.

“In particular, I am asking the Migration Advisory Committee to look at IT and engineering - occupations which have consistently, over a decade or more, been included on shortage occupation lists and relied on significant levels of international recruitment.

“The percentage of the workforce in these occupational groups made up by new foreign workers issued visas, are in the top 10 for all occupational groups in the UK.”

The Home Secretary also said the new Labour Government would support restrictions preventing overseas students and foreign care workers from bringing family members to the UK.

And Ms Cooper confirmed she supported increasing the salary threshold for Skilled Worker Visas to £38,700.

But the MAC will be ordered to review whether the salary threshold for migrant workers’ families is at the right level.

The Government is desperately trying to grapple with restoring confidence in the UK immigration system.

Ms Cooper has admitted there must be more of an emphasis on training British workers for the jobs of the future.

And the Channel migrant crisis is continuing to overwhelm Britain’s asylum system, with more than 1,000 people arriving over the past few days alone.

Tory leadership hopeful Tom Tugendhat has warned that illegal migrants “with extremist ideologies” could be sent to the UK under a returns agreement with the EU.

French President Emmanuel Macron ruled out the possibility of a direct deal with France to return migrants, insisting that any agreement must be between Britain and the EU.

“We speak about people coming from the rest of the world and we will not take the full burden of those who are going through France to join the UK,” he said.

However, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has received a boost from Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, who signalled his backing for an EU agreement on the back of warmer relations with Labour.

“It is too early now to go into the details but there is a willingness to solve every question that needs to be solved in order to have good relations,” Mr Scholz said.

Ms Cooper, at the European Political Community summit, had refused to rule out that Britain could take in asylum seekers in any returns deals brokered with Europe.

But Shadow Security Minister, Tom Tugendhat, said: “The first job of any government is to keep Britain safe.

“The Home Secretary has refused to acknowledge that under a returns deal the EU could send migrants with extremist ideologies to the UK, and failed to commit to the safeguards that would be needed to keep British people safe and protect our national security.

“The government should come clean, and either rule it out or explain how they would ensure the safety of communities across the country.”