THE EQUALITY IMPLICATIONS OF BEING A MIGRANT IN BRITAIN
struggling to improve economic outcomes across generations, while children of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Turkish and Somali ethnicity achieve below-average results in British schools. Green et al (2005a, 2005b, 2005c, 2007) argue in their studies of the Midlands that the characteristics of migrant workers vary by migration route and that the expansion of the EU in 2004 had significant implications for flows of migrant workers to the UK. The impact on unemployment rates and the wages of native workers has been vigorously debated (House of Lords, 2008). Lemos and Portes (2008) concluded that there had been little impact on unemployment but that the evidence was more mixed in terms of the effect on wages. Dustmann et al (2007) found a positive effect on wages at the middle income level but a negative, though modest, effect at the lower end. Coats (2008: 52) believed that, if there had been a wage effect, it was on earlier groups of migrants such as asylum seekers and ethnic minorities rather than on those born in Britain. Research shows an increasing occupational segregation and bi-polar distribution: migrants tend to be concentrated in occupations where wages are significantly higher than average (for example, ICT and health professionals) or in occupations where wages are significantly lower than average (for example, in operative and elementary occupations) (Green et al, 2007). In the latter case, sizeable wage gaps exist between migrant and UK-born workers, with the latter earning more than the former (Green et al, 2007). In a study of Eastern Europeans, the proportion of migrants who earned below ÂŁ5 an hour was quite high and the majority of them were women (Markova and Black, 2007). There is a trend towards a greater concentration of the newly arrived in less-skilled occupations. Furthermore, the areas of employment where migrant workers are concentrated are associated with higher than average rates of turnover. Usually these are jobs associated with relatively unattractive working conditions. Research has also emphasised the importance of migrant labour for the local economy and their use as temporary staff during peak periods (Zaronaite and Tirzite, 2006). Table 6.1 illustrates the clustering in terms of skills in relation to the major occupational groups for non-UK citizens compared to UK citizens. Thus, for example, while 28 per cent of UK nationals are in the managerial and professional groups, only 21 per cent of Bangladeshis are, alongside nine per cent of Poles, 12 per cent of Portuguese and no Somalis. At the other end of the occupational scale, 28 per cent of UK nationals work in process, plant and machine-operating jobs or elementary occupations, compared with five per cent of Australians, 33 per cent of Bangladeshis, 56 per cent of Poles, 54 per cent of Portuguese and 52 per cent of Somalis.
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