Migrant worker research concludes positive economic impact in Tyrone.

The positive side of migrant labour
The report makes reference to localised positive economic impacts including: the retention of local industries that otherwise may have been outsourced, the arrival of additional skills, the delivery of essential services, additional spending power being brought to local shops and services, increased fiscal contributions and other factors.

Emigration and Immigration

In the past many have left the county as migrant workers overseas but the new economic context, including the emergence of skills and labour shortages, has led to the area benefiting from inward migration from the start of the new millennium. Migrant workers have arrived mainly from other EU member states, including Portugal, Poland and Lithuania, but also from outside the EU in particular sectors such as medicine and nursing.

Report leadership

The research was commissioned by the Animate project but conducted independently by An Dúchán Research and Evaluation and led by Dr Robbie McVeigh and involved an extensive literature review. The Animate project is a Dungannon-based migrant worker equality project run under the auspices of Dungannon South Tyrone Council in partnership with the South Tyrone Empowerment Programme (STEP).

Some negative results

Where negative economic impacts are identified these are mainly associated with the (often unlawful) underpayment or exploitation of migrant workers due to their extra vulnerability. The primary victims of such practices are clearly migrant workers themselves but there is also a knock on effect, Dr McVeigh states:

This is because those who exploit can undercut law-abiding employers, undermine collective bargaining and hence threaten working conditions generally. Research concludes the “appropriate response” to prevent this is to “strengthen employment rights rather than scapegoating migrant workers” arguing the key factor in maximising the benefits of inward migration is the principle migrant workers are treated fairly and equally. Dr McVeigh adds

Economic racism?

Making reference to what it calls “economic racism” the research also cautions against alleged economic arguments that come from popular myths such as “taking jobs” or “costing the country money”. It concludes that such arguments are not about economics and “rarely grounded in facts or accepted analysis” but “simply crude racism based on ignorance and inaccurate information”.

The research also highlights the danger migrants are wrongly seen as the cause rather than the symptom of general phenomena in the economy (such as increased international competition due to globalisation), or the consequences of particular economic policy or practice (such as subcontracting) that in reality predate and would happen regardless of the presence of migrant workers.

Daniel Holder of Animate said: