01 09 2014

Skilled foreign workers boost British growth by £210bn a year

Skilled foreign workers add hundreds of billions of pounds to the British economy each year and are outperforming their UK-born counterparts, according to a new report.

Lloyds Bank said foreign professionals were now a key driver of the UK economy, providing an estimated £210bn boost to UK growth each year and driving 15pc of all output.

The report said the number of "inpats" with a senior or technical level job has doubled from 7.3pc of total workers in 1997 to 15pc this year, with the majority of growth seen over the past decade. The number of foreign workers in professional jobs had grown from 2.6m in 2004 to 4.6m today.
"The findings of the research clearly demonstrate the strength of the UK economy and its ability to attract a highly qualified professional workforce from around the world," said Jamsheed Poncha, head of client services at Lloyds Bank. "The contribution inward talent can make to key industries is impressive as it ultimately helps the economy to prosper even more."
The report, which was compiled jointly with the Centre for Economics and Business Research, found that workers from America were the most highly skilled.