Public attitudes to migrant workers

The Department for Employment and Learning has published results from the Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey on the
public’s attitude to migrant workers.

The main findings were:

• 52% of respondents felt that government should place more restrictions on migrant workers;
• 49% of respondents come into contact with migrant workers either daily or once or twice a week;
• 24% of respondents thought Northern Ireland people were very prejudiced towards migrant workers. However, only 3% of respondents consider themselves to be very prejudiced;
• 49% of respondents agree or strongly agree that migrant workers are generally good for the local economy;
• 45% of respondents feel that migrant workers take jobs away from people who were born in Northern Ireland;
• 25% of respondents agree or strongly agree that migrant workers come to Northern Ireland just to get social security benefits;
• 20% of respondents felt that migrant workers were more law abiding than locals;
• 59% of respondents agree or strongly agree that migrant workers are more hard working than local workers;
• 63% of respondents feel that the number of migrant workers coming to Northern Ireland puts a strain on services;
• 76% of respondents feel that migrant workers mostly take up jobs local workers do not want;
• 85% of respondents think that migrant workers are prepared to work for lower wages than local workers;

The full document is available to download from the Department’s website.