āIf you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. It really is public brainwashing and misinformation.ā - Robert Kane Pappas
Nigel Farage never misses a chance to turn on immigrants, this time aiming his sights at legal immigration, suggesting that rather than boosting our economy legal immigrants actually cost the country money.
'Shameful!' Nigel Farage blasts figures that show only ONE in five legal migrants are working."Ā (GB News: 03/12/24)
Is this true and does it really matter?Ā
For year ending June 2024 1.16 million visas were issued for work, study or family reasons, including dependents. (GOV.UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2024.)Ā Of these 286,382 were work visas.
So, of the total number of immigrant visas issued, just over 25% of these were work related. This contradicts Farageās claim that only āone in five legal migrants are workingā but lets forgive the bad math for the momentĀ and burrow a little deeper into the figures.
Of the total number of legal immigrants for year ending June 2024, 446,000 were on overseas student visas. Students are here to study and therefore cannot be counted as not working. For Farage to include such a large proportion of legal migrants in his ānot workingā figures is misleading at best and a deliberate deceit at worst.
What is more, foreign students PAY for their university education and in so doing make a massive contribution to the UK economy.
āInternational students boost UK economy by Ā£41.9 billionā (universitiesuk.ac.uk: 16/05/23)
Ā If we take overseas student numbers from the 1.16million visas issued we are left with 714,000 legal migrants who are here either to work or as dependents. Of these 286,382 had work visas, leaving 427,618 immigrants with no right to work or study. In short, 36.863% of the total number of visa issued.Ā
Again, the math showsĀ Farage as either bad with figures or a man bent on deceit.Ā 36.8% of legal migrants not working is far short of Farageās 80%. But lets look even deeper at the numbers.
The visas issued were for students, workers and dependents. As we have accounted for student and worker numbers it is fair to assume the remaining 36.8% of visas issued are for dependents, which is just over one third of all visas issued. Breaking the numbers down further we can see the ratio of worker visas to dependentĀ visas is 246,382: 427,618: or put more simply 1:1.7
In other words, on average, every migrant issued a work visa brings with them 1.7 dependents. This figure of 1.7 dependents is exactly the number of dependent children the average household in England and Wales supports. (Office of National Statistics: Average number of dependent children per family in England and Wale, 2020 and 2021) The galling truth for Farage is that the average legally working migrant, if they bring dependents with them, incurs no more cost on the British economy than the average English or Welsh worker with dependents. Even more damaging of Forages misinformation campaign is the fact that migrant men are more likely to be in work than UK born men, and therefore less likely to claim unemployment benefit.
