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Extended Project Qualification

What is the truth behind

immigrants, a threat to
the economy?1

1 http://www.lbc.co.uk/watch-nigel-farage-v-james-obrien-live-from-1130-90532

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Table of Contents
Glossary3
Introduction

Findings

Unemployment

Crime

12

Education

15

Housing

19

Analysis and Concluding Remarks

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Glossary
Absenteeism A habitual pattern of absence
Aggregate Demand AD=G+I+C+(X-M) - Total planned expenditure in
the economy known by Government expenditure + Investment +
Consumer Spending + (Exports Imports)
Aggregate Supply The total value of goods and services supplied in
the economy
Balance of Payments A record of the financial transactions over a
period of time between a country and its trading partners
Economy Growth - Growth in the economy consists mainly of consumer
spending and investment
Factors of Production Land, Labour, Capital and Enterprise
FDI Investment in the domestic economy in new manufacturing plants
by foreign multinational companies
Full Capacity Is when the economy operates at its Productivity Frontier
(PPF)
Inflation A sustained increase in the general price level
Long Run Period of time during which all factors become variable and
the scale of output can change
Long term trend rate of growth The average rate of economic growth
sustained over a period of time
Marginal External Benefit - The spill over benefit to third parties of an
economic transaction
Marginal Private Benefits The benefit to an individual or firm of an
economic transaction
Marginal Private Costs The cost to an individual or firm of an
economic transaction
Marginal Social Benefits The full benefit to society of an economic
transaction including private and external benefits
Marginal Social Costs The full cost to society of an economic
transaction, including private and external costs
Merit good merit good are those goods and services that the
government feels that people will under-consume and which ought to be
subsidised or provided free at the point of use.
Negative Externalities Costs imposed on a third party not involved
with the consumption or production of the good
Positive Externalities A positive spill over effect to third parties of a
market transaction
Recession Negative economic growth over two consecutive quarters
Short Run Period during which fixed costs and the scale of production
remained fixed
Social Mobility Is the movement of individuals within the given
category in society
Underlying trend rate of growth The average rate of economic
growth sustained over a period of time

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Welfare Loss Reduction in consumer and producer surplus when output

is restricted to less than optimum level

Introduction
Immigration to Britain has been an on-going process for centuries,
but possibly became more apparent with the need for a larger
workforce following World War II. The first arrivals of immigrants
coming from commonwealth countries are now well-established
British citizens (BBC History 2002)2. More recently from 2007 to
2013, with Romania and Bulgaria joining the EU, the number of
immigrants coming to the UK was five times greater. However by
the last quarter of 2013 the number of immigrants entering the UK
is slowing down, linked to the fall of 4,000 in Romanians and
Bulgarians working in the UK3.
Immigration is becoming a political hot potato because political
parties like UKIP have managed to increase awareness in the media
of the problems rising levels of immigration creates in the economy.
Nigel Farage quotes rising levels of immigration is a threat to the
economy4.
However, it is difficult to ascertain how much immigration has risen
by. Migration Watch UK believe that the scale of net inward
migration is now so great as to be contrary to the interests of all
sections of our community. The latest figure shows that 260,000
people settled in the UK in 2014 (Migration Watch UK 2014)5.

2http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/short_history_of_im
migration.stm#1946
3 The Economist Issue 20, Page 28 No flood after all
4 http://www.lbc.co.uk/watch-nigel-farage-v-james-obrien-live-from-1130-90532
5 http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/latest-immigration-statistics

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This report focuses on the impact of rising immigration on

Eastbournes economy.

This town has been chosen because it is

appealing to foreigners given its southern location.

The general public have become more aware of these issues as
evidenced by a recent questionnaire which highlights that 46% of
those sampled are aware of at least one advantage of immigration
in the economy, and 61% are aware of at least one disadvantage.
The most common factors mentioned were unemployment, crime,
education and housing.6
The questions that this report looks to answer are:

Does immigration cause unemployment?

Has immigration led to rising levels of crime?
Are schools experiencing overcrowding as

immigration?
Is there a shortage of housing and an increase in the cost of

result

of

housing because of immigration?

These factors will be explored in more depth in the findings section
that follows.

6 Appendix A
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Findings
As explained in the introduction the questions that will be explored
are:

Does immigration cause unemployment?

Has immigration led to rising levels of crime?
Are schools experiencing overcrowding as

immigration?
Is there a shortage of housing and an increase in the cost of

result

of

housing because of immigration?

Unemployment
In the UK the unemployment rate is 5.8% (December 2014)
compared to earlier in 2014 when the rate was higher at 7.1% (ONS
Statistics 2015)7. Eastbournes unemployment rate is slightly higher
than the national average at 6.6% in December 2014.
Figure 1 shows net migration and % unemployment from 2005 to
2013, suggests that there is not a correlation between rising levels
of immigration and an increase in unemployment in Eastbourne.
7 http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/januaryNet Migration figures and % Unemployment in Eastbourne from
2015/statistical-bulletin.html*All words in bold are defined in the glossary Page
3 2005-2014

6
Figure 1

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Between 2008 and 2009 unemployment was high at 7.6% and 7.1%.
Therefore,
migration

unemployment
was

negative

increased
for

both

by
years.

0.7%.
This

However,

net

suggests

that

immigration does not increase the rate of unemployment in

Eastbourne. On the other hand, the UK was impacted by the global
recession* at this time, which could be the cause for decreasing
rates in net migration and increasing rates in unemployment from
2007 to 2008 as the underlying trend rate of growth in the
economy declined over two consecutive quarters.
In Eastbourne the unemployment rate is above average at 6.6%
therefore an estimate of 6,674 people are unemployed as of the last
Census in 2011.
Overall, the figures show no link between immigration and
unemployment. Stephen Lloyd, Eastbournes MP agreed with this
conclusion. I do not believe that locally more people are
unemployed due to immigrants working in Eastbourne. The most
recent unemployment figures show that the unemployment rate is
down to 6.6%.8
Other research undertaken for this project reveals that current
immigrants who work and live in Eastbourne work in low skilled jobs
in the cleaning and caring sector, regardless of the expertise they
might have acquired in their country of origin with professional
qualifications, mainly because of their poor language skills or the
shortage of jobs in certain sectors. This is due to the limited variety
of jobs that Eastbourne offers.9

8 Questionnaire completed by Eastbournes MP Stephen Lloyd November 2014

9 Interview with Servest Primark workers 9th November 2014
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Servest a cleaning agency that provides retailers with cleaners

employs mostly immigrants because of the high level of productivity
in exchange for a minimum wage. 8/10 cleaners at Primark
Eastbourne are foreign-born. One of the Servest employees states
that he has an engineering degree back in his home country
(Poland). As a result of high levels of unemployment and low living
standards he decided to migrate to Eastbourne where living
standards are better.10
In the longer term these immigrants with industry experience and/or
professional qualifications could benefit Eastbournes economy, with
a rise in social mobility.

Tutor2u released a useful study that

shows that immigrants occupy a fifth of jobs within important

manufacturing firms that have helped reduce the UKs balance of
payments in the aerospace, engineering and IT industries because
of the lack of skilled British graduates 11. Once language barriers are
broken, the likelihood of social mobility would be expected to rise as
foreign workers start to look for better-paid jobs leaving those low
skilled jobs to incoming immigrants.
A questionnaire carried out for this investigation indicates that 51%
of those sampled do not think that immigrants working in
Eastbourne affect opportunities for local residents to become
employed. Another 22% agreed that possible job vacancies get
taken by immigrants and therefore affecting the chances for local
citizens to get a job. The rest of the respondents (27%) neither
agreed nor disagreed.12
According to Eastbournes MP, Stephen Lloyd, immigrants add
prosperity and growth to Eastbourne town and the UK as a whole.
10 Interview with Servest Primark supervisor and polish employee 9th November
2014
11 http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/uk-economymind-the-gap-skills-shortages
12 Appendix A

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An increase in the foreign-born population living in Eastbourne has

made the town more culturally diverse. This has led to a boost in
business activities because of the increase in local shops, for
instance Polish grocery stores and Turkish take-away restaurants.
Stephen Lloyd is suggesting that the number of jobs created by a
boost in economic activity is greater than the number of jobs taken
by immigrants.
On the other hand, the UKIP political party in Eastbourne suggests
that they could reduce unemployment even further if there were
tougher policies to control the number of immigrants allowed in the
town and the UK in general13. Having such policies would
theoretically reduce unemployment in the short term because there
is an assumption that available jobs will be taken by UK citizens and
the economy will operate at full capacity.
UKIP could arguably be taking too much of a short term view on
immigration. The Economist found that Britains population would be
flatter without immigration; from 1995 to 2015 there would have
been an increase of 2 Million in comparison to the 19 Million when
we include those that immigrated from EEA (European Economic
Area) and non-EEA14. However, immigrants are on average, better
educated than natives. This is suggested by a recent study by
Christian Dustmann and Tommaso Frattini of UCL and University of
Milan15. This is a gain because with an increase in population many
would assume the government would have to increase spending on
Training and Education. However, Britain could benefit from their
skills without investing significant amounts.

13 http://www.ukipeastbourne.com/local-policies/
14 The Economist, November 2nd 2013 Issue 44
15 Christian Dustmann UCL and Tommasso Frattini University of Milan
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On the other hand, Stanford University released a study that

examines how different regions attain economic growth 16. This study
contradicts Dustmann and Frattinis argument because it mentions
that lowering population growth contributes to a greater standard of
living. They are suggesting that falling population levels (rather than
rising population levels) increase social mobility and therefore lead
to a healthier economy. The main worry in Eastbourne is for the
immigrant population to become a burden that is difficult to employ
and educate, some people already believe this is currently
happening.
Stanford University explains that a lowering of the population would
be better for the economy because there is less labour competition
so businesses would be forced to provide better working conditions
and wages. Therefore, unemployment in the economy would only
count for disabled individuals or people who would rather live on
welfare payments.
A contrasting economic theory is that immigration could at times
increase wages because some industries are prepared to pay a
higher price for an immigrant worker if they are more highly skilled.
However, low-skilled construction related jobs experience the
opposite, where a large labour supply brings wages down, and even
though businesses benefit from cheap labour, immigrants will
eventually have children resulting in the government having to
increase spending in education and on other public services so that
in the long term an increased number of jobs are available in the
public sector at least.
UKIPs proposed policy to implement tougher border controls would
have a minimal positive short term effect in that more jobs would be
available for British workers but the availability could depend on the
16 Stanford Centre for International Development Working Paper No. 478 Enjun
Xia - August 2013

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levels of investment that the UK has experienced through FDI. The

food industry in Eastbourne has soared since more immigrants have
moved to the area. It is noticeable that the number of jobs available
has increased because unemployment levels in Eastbourne have
decreased

in

the

past

years.

The

secondary

sector

has

experienced a shortage in labour supply due to the lack of skills

required. Most foreign workers who move to Eastbourne are more
likely to get a job in the secondary sector because according to local
Entrepreneur Colin Basset foreign workers are preferred to British
workers. Colin Basset says that there isnt a concentration of
foreign or British workers, he also states that he has previously
observed that foreign workers have a higher productivity, higher
motivation and less absenteeism.17
Figure 2 illustrates how immigration stimulates growth. An increase
in population, for example more immigrants coming to the UK, could
be followed by an increase in aggregate demand (made up of:
government spending, investment, consumer spending and net
exports), consumer spending and investment being the largest
components. At first the economy would be operating at QP.
Theoretically, if immigration increased aggregate demand (AD)
would increase from AD to AD1 with an increase in output from Q to
Q1 and inflation increasing from P to P1. However this is only likely
to happen in the short run. An increase in AD means unemployment
is low and the economy is reaching its PPF (Productive Efficiency
Frontier). Once the economy has reached this point it is overheating
and there is no available factors of production to be exploited.
Eastbourne has invested heavily in education with apprenticeships
schemes where 184 apprenticeships were created in 2014. 18 This
should have led to a rightward shift in the LRAS curve shifting from
LRAS to LRAS1 bringing the economy to P2Q2 where the available
17 Questionnaire sent to Colin Basset via Email November 2014
18 http://www.stephenlloyd.org.uk/181_apprenticeships_in_100_days
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output in the economy is higher and prices are back to P 2 in the long
run.

Keynesian Diagram Aggregate Demand Aggregate Supply

model

Figure 2
Overall, immigrants stimulate growth because greater levels of
investment leads to greater consumer spending meaning that
aggregate demand increases accordingly to aggregate supply as
real national output is higher.

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Crime
The

most

recent

figures

from

September

2014

show

that

Eastbournes crime rate, based on recorded crimes per 1,000

people, was 18% in comparison to September 2013 when it was
Net Migration figures and Number of Crimes in Eastbourne from
2005-2014

14% and in September 2012 17%19.

As illustrated in Figure 3 the numbers of crimes committed and net
migration in Eastbourne have both decreased in the past 10 years.
Net migration has decreased by 80% from 04/05 to 13/14 and the
number of crimes has fallen by almost 70%. Therefore, this
information suggests that there is a relationship between falling
immigration and a decrease in crime.
However, these figures do not take into account other factors such
as the reasons why these crimes occur. For example, the London
bombings in 200520 could have increased the tension between
foreigners and Britons due to biased media reports emphasising the
link between immigrants and terrorist attacks. This example only
pertains to London, but other UK towns could have had the same
impact due to the fear in society, as there was a second attempt for
a terrorist attack during the same year.

19 http://www.police.uk/sussex/EE1NH12/performance/
20 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4543608.stm
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In an interview with Eastbournes MP Stephen Lloyd, he confirmed

there isnt a link between immigration and rising crime and even
though most immigrants choose to live in the Devonshire ward (i.e.
the town centre which has the highest crime rate in Eastbourne) we
have coped well with the challenges this has brought, because we
cant generalise that most crimes are committed by foreigners if the
town centre is a central place for the whole of Eastbournes
population.

21

Figure 4 shows a map of Eastbourne and its different wards. The last
census in 2011 highlights the wards inhabited by a larger proportion
of foreigners. Between those, Devonshire Ward (Town Centre and
Seaside) being the most populated. 30% of Eastbournes crime
occurred in the town centre and 8% in Seaside. Considering Seaside
is the ward with the second highest foreign-born population the
crime rate is relatively low compared to other wards such as
Hampden Park and Shinewater where 11% of the towns crimes
occurred22.

21 Questionnaire completed by Eastbournes MP Stephen Lloyd November 2014

22http://www.ukcrimestats.com/Neighbourhood/Sussex_Police/Town_Centre_(East
bourne)

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Eastbourne Map.
Figure 4

Furthermore, according to researchers at LSE, despite the rising

levels of Eastern European migrants England has seen a drop in
property crime and there has not been an increase in violence23.
On the other hand, Nigel Farage (leader of UKIP) disagrees with this
statement and says that immigration does have a negative impact
on crime rates. During an interview by LBC (Leading Britains
Conversation) he was asked what the difference was between
having

group

of

Romanian

and

German

immigrants

as

neighbours. Mr Farage replied You know what the difference is

Would I be concerned? I think I would be 24. This statement is not
only racist but it has definitely affected the way many Britons think
about immigration. Some of them have started to think that they
would not feel comfortable living next door to a Romanian family
and therefore possible racist behaviour follows to crimes such as
23 The Economists December 14th 2013 Issue 50
24 http://www.lbc.co.uk/watch-nigel-farage-v-james-obrien-live-from-1130-90532
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anti-social behaviour and retaliation from immigrants. He supports

his argument by saying that 7% of all crime in Europe is caused by
240 Romanian gangs underlining the impact his remark had in
society after it was all over the newspapers read by British society.25
However, is Nigel Farages argument valid? The only newspaper that
has written many articles regarding Romanian criminals and
suspected

crimes

committed

is

the

Express

newspaper.

Coincidently, Nigel Farage writes a column for this newspaper every

week. There are no readily-available statistics to back up his
argument.

Furthermore,

this

information

does

not

apply

to

Eastbourne or any other town in the UK because whats been seen

in the news is a representation of UKIP views.

Education
Its obvious that with an increase in population the UK will have to
increase investment in Public Services. Many think that schools and
other public services like the NHS are experiencing overcrowding as
the UK population continues to increase. The general consensus is
that immigration stretches these services. The Balance of Payments
25 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27474099
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could be affected by overcrowding of public services because it

would mean that the government has to increase investment in
these services in order to expand and to be able to cope with the
population growth. An increase in government spending generally
means the government has to cut spending in another sector such
as welfare payments which is what has been happening recently but
not necessarily because the government needs to expand their
services due to rising immigration.
UKIP launched their policies for the election in 2015. One of them
states Immigrants must financially support themselves and their
dependents for 5 years. Including private education, private health
care and private housing.26 Many now see this as a valid policy and
what they forget is that immigrants also add to the economy when
they pay their taxes. The UKs national debt will exceed 1.5 trillion
by 2015; without immigrants the debt would cost each native
28,650. However, divided across Britains immigrants it decreases
to 21,800 per person if immigration continues to rise at the same
rate.27
Education in the UK is known as a merit good an under
consumption of a merit good such as education results in a welfare
loss in the economy. Consumption of education as a service
theoretically generates positive externalities, where the overall
benefit for society (marginal social benefit) is greater than the
benefit for each individual (marginal private benefit) Eastbourne
counts with 23 primary schools, 7 secondary schools and 1 college.
Eastbournes MP Stephen Lloyd was asked in a questionnaire if
schools in Eastbourne were affected in any way because of
immigration or experiencing overcrowding. It has been difficult in

26 http://www.ukip.org/issues
27 The Economist Issue 44 November 2013 Page 29
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Bourne School for the last 15 or so years, but they have coped
brilliantly28 he wrote.
Bourne School is the only primary school located in Eastbournes
town centre and Seaside. Most immigrants mainly choose to live in
the town centre and therefore send their children to the nearest
school. This is what has caused the school to over populate with
children. However, Mr. Maxwell the schools headteacher has had
full support from Eastbournes MP to overcome this situation by
helping families who live in the town centre approach different
schools around Eastbourne by offering free bus passes to children
who have to travel further than 2 miles to get to school.
East Sussex in figures shows that there are 11,927 pupils in
Eastbourne from which 1,758 are students with English as an
additional language.29 Like many other schools around the UK,
secondary schools in Eastbourne have experienced an increase in
the share of pupils getting 5 GCSES A*-C (including English and
Maths). The percentage change in increase has been higher in
schools that have a higher percentage of SEAL pupils (Students with
English as an additional language). 4% of KS4 students at The
Eastbourne Academy in 2014 were SEAL and 43% of students
achieved A*-C in English and Maths. In 2013 7% of KS4 students at
The Eastbourne Academy were SEAL and 53% of students achieved
A*-C in English and Maths.30
Similarly, an article in The Economist supports this argument. Yes,
schools are under more pressure because the number of pupils is
increasing but overall it is not making it harder for others to learn. A
28 Questionnaire completed by Eastbournes MP Stephen Lloyd November 2014
29http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/index.jsp?catalog=http%3A
%2F%2Fesfigures01s.escc.gov.uk%3A80%2Fobj%2FfCatalog
%2FCatalog55&submode=catalog&mode=documentation&top=yes
30 http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/school.pl?
urn=136106

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school in Peterborough had an increase in their exam results from

37.2% A*-C in 2008 to 57.7% in 2009 when the school experienced
a 19% increase in SEAL students.31
The economic theory of merit goods suggests that consumers (like
the parents of children in Eastbournes schools) are unaware of the
long-term benefit their children gain from attending school. Figure 5
shows the marginal social cost (MSC) and the marginal private cost
(MPC) are equal. However the marginal private benefit (MPB) such
as greater earnings after education is less than the benefit for
society

as

whole

which

include

rising

wages,

increased

productivity and social mobility which in the long term should

increase Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply in the economy

MSC=MPC

as output is greater and unemployment is lowered.

31 The Economist Issue 50 December 2013

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However, having more immigrants coming to live and study in

Eastbourne would require the government to increase spending on
education. This should therefore incentivise consumption adding up
to a greater long-term trend rate of growth as highlighted by
the Actual growth curve in figure 6.

Business Cycle Diagram

Figure 6

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Housing
In the whole of the UK, the foreign-born population has low
ownership rates with only 43% being homeowners32.

Migration is

the most important variant in projections about the growth in the

number of new households in England. In the latest analysis by the
Department for Communities and Local Government its assumed
that net migration accounts for almost 40% of the annual increase
in households in England. This figure is equivalent to 252,000
households each year. 33
The assumption of rising immigration causing a rise in house prices
or even affecting the chances of people accessing social housing
has been a popular topic over the past few years due to the
shortage of available places to rent and buy in the UK. However,
there is no direct evidence to support this argument besides the
Theory of supply and demand, which does not take into account
external factors such as interest rates, cuts in government spending
or investment.
This theory suggests that an increase in demand leads to rising
house prices whereas an increase in supply leads to a fall in prices.
As shown in Figure 7 the market is at P*Q* (market equilibrium) and
then with an increase in immigration the quantity demanded for
housing will increase and will cause demand to shift to the right D 1
where the market will stand at P1Q1 with higher house prices and an
extension in supply resulting in an excess in demand of Q*Q1.

32 http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/migrants-and-housing-ukexperiences-and-impacts
33 https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communitiesand-local-government

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Supply and Demand Diagram

Figure 7

The magnitude of the impact immigration has on housing prices

really depends on the elasticity of supply for houses. Brian Winn, the
owner of a popular estate agency in Eastbourne outlines that house
prices have remained stable for the past 5 years in comparison to
other areas in the UK that have experienced a rapid increase in
prices. However, house prices in places like London have risen due
to the amount of FDI in comparison to Eastbourne where houses are
mostly being bought to be occupied and not for investment
reasons34.
Brian Winn also highlights that there are too many tenants and not
enough properties in Eastbourne in comparison to 10 years ago
when there was a wider choice of residences as well as greater
accessibility to mortgages.
Social housing has been another problem in Eastbourne. One of
UKIPs policies outlines that incoming immigrants should financially

34 Phone Interview with Brian Winns 29th January 2015

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support themselves and access private housing 35 This is another

issue raised by UKIP that has influenced British society in the way
they perceive the impact of immigration on the economy. There is
little evidence that immigrants are eligible to access social housing.
The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) dictates each UK citizens
eligibility for social housing and individuals who are prioritised for
this benefit are those who are homeless 36. UKIP has made people
think that immigrants come to the UK and take advantage of these
services. However, Neil Fuller, a social worker who used to work for
the council and now teaches at a college in Eastbourne disagrees.
He clarifies that immigrants that come to live in Eastbourne have
accessed private housing and brought enough financial resources 37.
Immigrants do become entitled to welfare benefits like housing
benefit or social housing (if they meet CIH criteria) which has led to
debates about whether immigrants should or shouldnt be able to
qualify for these benefits as the money comes from taxpayers.
With this in mind, Prof Christian Dustmann at UCL from the Centre
for Research and Analysis of Migration, found that immigrants are
45% less likely than natives to receive benefits and rather than
being a drain the contribution from immigration has been
remarkably strong.38

35 http://www.ukip.org/issues
36 http://www.cih.org/research
37 Interview with Neill Fuller 27th January 2015
38 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24813467 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c49043a86447-11e4-b219-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3SVMmLq2r

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Analysis and Concluding Remarks

So, what is the truth behind immigration? Are immigrants a threat to
the economy?
The truth is that the economy would be affected if the government
implemented tougher immigration policies, as new arrivals have
made a total contribution of 25bn to public finance. This allows the
UK government to increase spending to help the economy expand.
Higher numbers of immigrants would certainly mean higher
consumption (greatest component of AD) it would also drive
investment up (component of AD) as foreigners could incentivise
entrepreneurial activity like Eastbourne has experienced over the
past few years which in the long run could help increase exports and
reduce imports as industries expand.
Overall,

each

of

these components

will

exceed

government

spending (component of AD) needed to sustain immigrants coming

to the UK in terms of education and healthcare. Figure 8 shows how
each component drives AD further up and the economy starts to
become efficient in the short term therefore increasing capacity in
the long term as the economy counts with a larger labour supply as
well as greater levels of innovation and business efficiency which
leads to low levels of unemployment as the economy promotes
stability in relation to employment levels, crime rates, public
services and housing.

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And what are the answers to questions outlined in the introduction:

Does immigration cause unemployment?

Immigration does not cause unemployment in the economy. By

looking at the findings, towns such as Eastbourne have not been
affected by immigrants coming to work here. If so, it has helped
the economy and increase employment as most immigrants that
come to work in Eastbourne have taken low skilled jobs in the
cleaning and caring sector leading to an improvement in the
shortage of jobs these sectors were experiencing as people do
not wish to take on these types of jobs.
Immigrants add prosperity and growth to the UKs economy.
Many foreign-born workers have professional qualifications in
sectors that the UK is not supplying enough like engineers.
Having skilled immigrants moved into the UK improves social
mobility because many of them start from the bottom and move
up jobs as their language barrier breaks so oncoming immigrants
can take those jobs they no longer want and help the economy
expand as more industry sectors expand which in the long-term
creates more jobs as output in the economy is greater.

Has immigration led to rising levels of crime?

No, immigration has not increased crime rates in the UK.

It is suggested that there is not such correlation between rising
levels of immigration and higher number of crimes occurring in
the UK, however with the general elections in 2015 political
parties like UKIP have increased awareness of the impact
immigration is having in the UK economy and many times Nigel
Farage the party leader has blamed specific ethnicities for
current crimes which therefore has led to an increase in racism or
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discrimination against certain races thus immigrants retaliating

with anti-social behaviour so that UKIP can make themselves
stand out with their policies on controlling immigration.

Are

schools

experiencing

overcrowding

as

result

of

immigration?
Yes, many schools are experiencing overcrowding due to rising
levels of population as a result of more immigrants coming to the
UK. However, Education is known as a merit good because is under
consumed by society, therefore an increase in consumption enables
the whole society to benefit from the outcome of individuals
attending school in the long term.
A better educated workforce would result in higher wages and an
increase in productivity for firms leading to an expansion in the
economys capacity allowing the government to increase spending
in public services like education to be able to cope with more people
attending schools or using other state services like the NHS.

Is there a shortage of housing and an increase in the cost of

housing because of immigration?

Yes, there is a shortage of housing in the UK, but the costs of

housing and renting has not increased due to rising levels of
immigration. The impact immigration has in the supply of housing
depends on the elasticity for supply of housing because having a
supply with greater responsiveness to changes in prices will
increase the number of houses available. The UK has experienced a
rapid increase in the cost of housing in areas like London due to the
high levels of FDI. However, towns like Eastbourne have kept
housing prices stable because houses are bought to be occupied
and not for investment reasons.

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In terms of social housing, immigrants do not really have an impact

because the Chartered Institution of Housing has requirements
citizens need in order to be eligible. However, people have started
to think that reasons why they can not access social housing is due
to immigrants taking up the availability when in reality the
government is just prioritising those citizens who are homeless.

Appendix
Appendix A
Questionnaire done by Alvaro Ferreira, responses collected via
Twitter 39 Respondents

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