Polish workers: Good or Bad for the British Economy

[DeanoGV]

It would be interesting to hear people's views on the influx of workers from the new EU. What is your opinion are they good for the British economy?

Do they contrbute and in what ways?

[xafier]

Having previously worked for the department that dealt with the new EU people I know the jobs the majority of them do, and personally I have no quarms with them... they come here, mostly work for minimal wage, work very hard, and do jobs that the majority of the unemployed are to idle to bother doing...

 

the majority of them do packing in factorys, farm work, hotel work, labouring... mostly the stuff our unemployed dole spongers refuse to do cos they're idle...

 

are they good for our economy? sure, they work very hard for cheap and are now doing it legally instead of illegally (which means more taxes!)

 

the press bloat all these storys about them stealing jobs and stuff, but its mostly rubbish, a lot of our unemployment is purely cos some people are too picky about what they'll do, face it, if you was unemployed you wouldn't go packing boxes 12 hours a day for £5 an hour unless you really REALLY had to

[DeanoGV]

Having previously worked for the department that dealt with the new EU people I know the jobs the majority of them do, and personally I have no quarms with them... they come here, mostly work for minimal wage, work very hard, and do jobs that the majority of the unemployed are to idle to bother doing...

 

the majority of them do packing in factorys, farm work, hotel work, labouring... mostly the stuff our unemployed dole spongers refuse to do cos they're idle...

 

are they good for our economy? sure, they work very hard for cheap and are now doing it legally instead of illegally (which means more taxes!)

 

the press bloat all these storys about them stealing jobs and stuff, but its mostly rubbish, a lot of our unemployment is purely cos some people are too picky about what they'll do, face it, if you was unemployed you wouldn't go packing boxes 12 hours a day for £5 an hour unless you really REALLY had to

 

I agree with your points. Here is something I posted on one of the other threads regarding a similar topic:

 

Sheffield becoming little Warszawa: Firstly the natives of Poland are not Eastern Europeans they are central Europeans by geographical location. If you tell a POlAK he/she is eastern european that is an insult to them. Remember up until the late eighties Poland was occupied by the Russians ( eastern europeans) and then it became a free market economy. Regarding the influence of Polish workers on the British economy this can only be a positive influence: They work for lower wages than the brits,they are prepared to work harder and longer and more importantly do the jobs that no-one else will do. Over 90% of the Polish workers will return to Poland over the next 10 years there reason to be in the UK is only to earn money to place a deposit on a appartment when they go back home. This is also becoming more difficult for them as in Poland especially Warszawa real estate prices have gone up by 30% in the last 12 months fuelled by speculators from England , Ireland and Spain.

[Agent Orange]

Having previously worked for the department that dealt with the new EU people I know the jobs the majority of them do, and personally I have no quarms with them... they come here, mostly work for minimal wage, work very hard, and do jobs that the majority of the unemployed are to idle to bother doing...

 

the majority of them do packing in factorys, farm work, hotel work, labouring... mostly the stuff our unemployed dole spongers refuse to do cos they're idle...

 

are they good for our economy? sure, they work very hard for cheap and are now doing it legally instead of illegally (which means more taxes!)

 

the press bloat all these storys about them stealing jobs and stuff, but its mostly rubbish, a lot of our unemployment is purely cos some people are too picky about what they'll do, face it, if you was unemployed you wouldn't go packing boxes 12 hours a day for £5 an hour unless you really REALLY had to

 

Completely agree! Without these workers the country wouldn't function too well. Who else would pick and pack you crimbo sprouts for minimum wage?

[artisan]

Completely agree! Without these workers the country wouldn't function too well. Who else would pick and pack you crimbo sprouts for minimum wage?

The same people who picked them before presumably.

You wont see any prices fall because of this, the employers who are paying these people a pittance will just increase their profits.

All you will see is an increased taxation burden to deal with extra unemployed people from the indigenous work force.

The reason that people from this country cannot work for sweatshop wages is that they have bills to pay, and accommodation to obtain.

The majority of the immigrant labour are living in conditions that are not acceptable in a civilised society.

It is reminiscent of the early 60's and the last time we had an influx of foreign labour, to fill non existent labour shortages.

If the modern day Scrooges would pay decent wages there would be no need for foreign labour at all.

[LordChaverly]

The same people who picked them before presumably.

You wont see any prices fall because of this, the employers who are paying these people a pittance will just increase their profits.

All you will see is an increased taxation burden to deal with extra unemployed people from the indigenous work force.

The reason that people from this country cannot work for sweatshop wages is that they have bills to pay, and accommodation to obtain.

The majority of the immigrant labour are living in conditions that are not acceptable in a civilised society.

It is reminiscent of the early 60's and the last time we had an influx of foreign labour, to fill non existent labour shortages.

If the modern day Scrooges would pay decent wages there would be no need for foreign labour at all.

 

Good points there artisan. A massive influx of migrant workers into specific sectors of employment is likely to have a depressive effect on wages in those sectors, to the detriment of indigenous workers. Arguments to the contrary are based on wishful thinking and tendentious reasoning. This does not mean of course that worker migration on this scale will not be good for economic growth (in terms of an overall increase in GDP, or even in GDP per capita). However, there are also negative externalities, such as the effects on congestion and housing etc which are more difficult to quantify and therefore are often missed out of the discussion altogether.

 

There is one negative factor though which, although very real, is also seldom mentioned in these discussions and that is the cost of remittances from the 'host' country, i.e. the money saved by migrant workers which is sent back to their home countries to be spent there (no wonder there is a housing boom in some parts of Poland, as it is probably being fuelled by pound notes!). Remittances of this kind constitute a loss to the UK economy, whereas is indigenous workers did the jobs of the migrant workers (for higher wages) it is likely that they would spend most of their wages in the UK, which would have a positive effect on the economy via the Keynesian 'multiplier' effect.

[xafier]

Whats also neglected to be discussed is the fact a lot of these Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Czech etc were already here, doing the exact same jobs, except they were getting paid less and we weren't making any tax on their wages, and they were here illegally...

 

I'd wager a bet that at least half of the original 100,000 or so applications dealt with by the government for new EU workers (which happened a LOT quicker than we're led to believe) were by people already here illegally

[Greybeard]

They work for lower wages than the brits,they are prepared to work harder and longer and more importantly do the jobs that no-one else will do.

 

How does this work then ? If a job pays just the minimum wage it pays the minimum wage whoever fills it. Or are you claiming that employers pay less than the minimum wage to immigrants workers ?

 

As for working longer hours you have to recognise that most immigrant workers leave their families at home. Without a family/social life they have little do do except work, eat and sleep so the long hours are not a hardship (and as Lord C points out the object is to send home as much as they can earn).The fact that Brits won't do the jobs is down to the long hours and low pay, perhaps they appreciate there should be more to life than work - a father working 60-70 hours a week won't be seeing much of his children.

 

Many Polish workers are seriously exploited, by employers, recruitment agencies and landlords. A recent BBC programme revealed that typically they are living in small terraced houses shared with as many as twelve or more others and paying £10/day for their accomodation. Perhaps we should insist that British workers should live in the same conditions, and stop bleating about low pay and long hours ?

 

Welcome back to Victorian Britain

[BasilRathbon]

Polish workers are all well and good, but just how much polishing needs doing?

[DeanoGV]

The same people who picked them before presumably.

You wont see any prices fall because of this, the employers who are paying these people a pittance will just increase their profits.

All you will see is an increased taxation burden to deal with extra unemployed people from the indigenous work force.

The reason that people from this country cannot work for sweatshop wages is that they have bills to pay, and accommodation to obtain.

The majority of the immigrant labour are living in conditions that are not acceptable in a civilised society.

It is reminiscent of the early 60's and the last time we had an influx of foreign labour, to fill non existent labour shortages.

If the modern day Scrooges would pay decent wages there would be no need for foreign labour at all.

 

 

 

Interesting angle. But the reason the indigenous work force do not have to work for minimum wage is because they have a choice and many choose to claim the dole because it is either easier or it benifits them financially. The diifference between the early 60's and today is that the majority of the workforce from the new EU are relocating for financial reasons and will return home to thier native countries in the medium term. Remember getting back to Warsaw,Tallin or Prague is only 20-30 pounds on easyjet. Furthermore the modern day scrooges who are operating factories on a shoestring because they have to compete with imports from china and south america are being given a life line. What do you prefer they close up shop and relocate to Poland ,Slovakia or maybe the ukraine. The goverments policy is correct and on this one they got right.