It hit the headlines yesterday that Britain's shaky economy has plummeted yet again, with another 38,000 people becoming unemployed between April and June of this year, bringing the total number of unemployed to 2.49 million - with this figure set to rise further over the coming months (1).
These figures are particularly pronounced amongst the young, with 20.2% of 16-24 year-olds being out of work (1).
Given these figures, and the predicted certainty that things are only going to get worse, it seems obvious that the UK is in no position to support an influx of further work seekers; more precisely, to support the arrival of over 20,000 affluent young work seekers each year, who hail from robust, prosperous, non-EU countries. Countries with far healthier economies, and far more jobs, than ours.
Yet, incredibly, this is exactly what is happening.
These 20,000 people are not those from war-torn ghettos, for whom Britain represents the only chance of freedom from violence and oppression; nor are they from desperately poor countries, where there is little or no hope of a future; nor even are they here to study - rather, they are the prosperous, moneyed youth (they must have at least £1600 in the bank to gain entry to the country) from some of the world's most economically powerful nations. Countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan.
Although this astonishing phenomenon is rarely, if ever, mentioned in the press - and certainly never in relation to youth unemployment - the UK government continues to quietly grant thousands of working visas, every year, to those aged 18-31, from the Antipodes, Canada, Japan and Monaco.
The majority of these visas fall under a category called 'The Youth Mobility Scheme' (previously known as the Working Holiday scheme), and it is for "young people who want to live, work and travel in the United Kingdom for a period of up to two years" (2).
In 2010, as the recession ravaged the job market and brutalised young people's futures, the UK granted 20,720 of them. (3)
The scheme "allow[s] people to do almost any kind of work, and to spend as much of their time working as they like" (4) in order to finance their exploration of the UK and further afield. They are free to come and go as they please, visiting other European countries for weeks or months at a time, and to take on any kind of work in the UK they choose, with virtually no restrictions (4). The sole purpose of this scheme is to enable and augment the life experience and long-term travel of the privileged youth of privileged countries.
When the UK economy was booming and jobs were plentiful, this kind of cultural exchange was perhaps entirely justifiable - beneficial, even.
However, at a time when more than one in five of the UK's young are unemployed, and jobs at every level are scarce, we are surely in no position to be indulging the luxury of 'experience' to the prosperous youth of global superpowers.
To give some perspective on this, there are currently 2.49 million unemployed in the UK; 7.9% of the population. Australia's unemployment rate stands at 5.1% (10), New Zealand's is 6.5% (13), with Japan's at just 4.6% (11). These countries are indisputably far better placed to offer their young people work than the UK is.
The general issue of migrant workers has not escaped the attention of the media, and there has already been much publicity surrounding employers' apparent preference for migrant workers from European countries, as they are perceived as being better educated, harder working, and having many other advantages. As the Guardian newspaper put it, "[m]any European workers, facing high unemployment and low pay at home, will be very grateful for jobs in the UK and are therefore likely to work harder, as they will treasure their jobs. For a business, this is a boon: increased productivity for the same pay" (5). This alone is a big enough hurdle for young job seekers to overcome - as, whether it is true or not, the prejudice is now very much in place. However, they do have some crucial advantages over such migrants, specifically in the realm of speech and accent - as there is plenty of evidence to suggest that UK customers do not like, trust, or always understand, people who 'sound foreign' (6). For jobs where the spoken word is paramount, such as sales, telesales, and customer service, this would seem to give native English speakers the considerable advantage.
Until, that is, one factors in the arrival of the Antipodeans (and Canadians, though their number is far less). Their English is, of course, as fluent as any English person's - while their accents, far from fostering suspicion or distrust, are highly appealing to many, given their associations with popular TV shows, historical and commonwealth connections, and good-natured sporting rivalries. (7)
Therefore, a young UK job seeker has nothing to offer employers that Antipodean or Canadian workers cannot match or even better. Indeed, there is a pronounced preference amongst many employers for Antipodeans particularly, as their national stereotype as a cheerful, extrovert, energetic people is the perfect personality cocktail for many sales and service industry jobs.
The author of this article previously worked for a London-based sales outfit which employed 40 plus people; less than five were UK-born. All the recruitment adverts stated that the jobs were "particularly suitable for Antipodeans". They weren't - it was rather that Antipodeans were particularly suitable for the employers. Management felt that, not only were Antipodeans more temperamentally suited for the work, but, because of their transient nature, sales 'burn-out' would not apply to them - so, rather than the employers needing to make any long-term positions available for UK workers, the company ran instead on a never-ending supply of fresh and energetic Antipodeans, who stayed an absolute maximum of two years. The fact that such workers were all essentially 'on holiday' informed their attitude and work ethic, too - they rarely became ground-down or depressed from the often tedious, repetitive, demoralising work - because they all knew it was just a brief stopgap, a temporary experience, simply something they were doing to earn some pocket money to continue to fund their adventures.
This leads inexorably to the question of illegal immigrants and illegal workers. Reports suggest that there are over 1 million illegal immigrants in the UK (8), but the public perception of an 'illegal immigrant' is often stereotypical and misguided - after all, an articulate young Australian who outstays the limits of their visa is as much an illegal immigrant as an illiterate destitute who sneaks in on a lorry. There are no official figures to suggest how many Antipodeans, Canadians and other YMS visa holders outstay their welcome, but it is common and anecdotal knowledge amongst working people,
particularly in London, that it happens a great deal. As one put it: "a huge number of Australians [and] New Zealanders are exploiting the UK's Holiday Visa scheme and getting away with it, with no response whatsoever from British Immigration." (12)
This is because, although the recipients of Youth Mobility Scheme visas are required to stop working and depart the UK immediately their visa expires, this is not enforced, and so many do not.
Two years is very significant time period in a young person's life, and many of the YMS recipients who stay the full two years do so because they are having what they came for - the time of their lives. They have made great friends, established adored house-shares, and generally fallen in love with the UK - if not with a person in it. To abruptly abandon all that to return to a country they have not seen in years, where old friendships may have withered and died, and where there is no strong network or established job waiting for them, is an incredibly daunting prospect for many. It is too for the many UK friends they have made. So, they don't abandon it. They stay. The UK government does not track visa holders to ensure they depart the country at the agreed date, so, provided they can find employers willing to pay them 'under the table' - something plenty are prepared to do (9) - then they can essentially stay indefinitely.
Employers hiring illegal immigrants have no impetus to adhere to any legislation regarding working conditions or pay, so they can and do set these as low as they like, knowing there will always be plenty of people desperate to fill them - thus undercutting the job market for legal UK job seekers ever further.
Although the press does focus on this issue in terms of poor European and other disadvantaged groups being exploited, the issue of those on Youth Mobility Schemes is never discussed, and appears to have been sidelined completely - where in fact, they raise a new and particularly pernicious problem. Other work seekers who come to the UK may not have a very good grasp of either written or spoken English - or, even if they do, employers know their accents will put customers off - and are therefore restricted in the kinds of work they can do; so UK-born work seekers still retain some advantages over them.
No such advantage exists when UK work seekers are forced to compete with Antipodeans and Canadians. Indeed, as we have seen, it seems credible to suggest that these non-natives hold all the advantages.
As Antipodeans and Canadians have no economic or political need to be in the country, and the Australian economy particularly is far more robust, it seems palpable madness to grant them visas to seek work, when lack of work is the number one problem facing millions of people in the UK (people who are certainly in no position to be able to afford to take part in the reciprocal scheme).
This analysis is not in any way meant to demonise those who acquire YMS visas - I have befriended and worked beside many, and they are warm, positive people, whose reasons for wanting to visit the UK are entirely understandable. Rather, it is to demonise the government agendas that make this visit possible at such a wholly inappropriate time.
But why do they make it possible? It seems such an irrational, almost deranged thing to do, when they purport to be so desperately concerned about youth unemployment, and its catastrophic knock-on effects of violence, crime, and civil unrest.
Therefore, it seems pertinent at this juncture to mention that YMS visas come with a few conditions. They don't just hand them out to anybody. Applicants must be of the right age, they must prove they have money in the bank - and they must pay. The cost of of a Youth Mobility Scheme visa currently stands at AU$499 - about £320. That means that, in 2010 alone, the UK government received over six million pounds from Youth Mobility Scheme applicants.
In addition, as YMS recipients are required to have at least £1600 in the bank before they can enter the country, and if we assume they will spend it all before they leave, this means they are injecting another £33,152,000 into the British economy annually. This is before even beginning to calculate the living and working taxes they will be required to pay throughout the course of their stay - taxes they are far more likely to be able to pay than the average UK job seeker, as, for reasons we have seen, they are considered far more employable by many businesses; and of course, should they fail to find work, they are not eligible for any state support. In short, they can only pour money into the system - they are legally unable to take any back.
So it is plain to see see why the UK government allows this situation to continue; because it fulfils their real agenda - which has nothing to do with the welfare or the prosperity of ordinary British people, and everything to do with making more money, and helping business owners to make more money.
This must stop.
Until the UK economy is able to provide a paying job for every person born in this country who wants one, it is in no position to swell the job-seeking ranks further by selling the rights to work to well-off non-natives who are perfectly able to live and work comfortably in their own countries.
Perhaps if the UK had adhered to this idea last year, rather than exploiting the whims of adventurous young people looking for fun, then three-quarters of the 38,000 people who lost their jobs in recent months would still be fully employed.
Referencing:
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14555264
2. http://www.visabureau.com/uk/youth-mobility.aspx?s_cid=29000121&r_url=http://www.seasonworkers.com/workpermitsandvisas/unitedkingdom/workingholidayvisa.aspx
3. http://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/non-european-labour-migration-uk
4. http://ukinjapan.fco.gov.uk/en/news/?view=News&id=9473533
5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/04/letters-unions-foreign-workers
6. http://www.metro.co.uk/news/835661-people-don-t-trust-foreign-accents-says-study
7. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/bbc/askaboutbritain/2011-01/19/content_11881102.htm
8. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7107598.ece
9. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7462373.stm
10. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6202.0
11. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/japan/unemployment-rate
12. http://www.itcontractor.com/Articles_IR35_News_Advice/view_article.asp?id_no=502&photopage=0
13. http://www.dol.govt.nz/lmr/lmr-hlfs.asp
