Development: Do points mean prizes? How the UK's migration policies could benefit the world's poor

Article

This paper examines the nature of migration's development impacts in some depth and asks how the government can ensure that the UK's migration policies contribute positively to the lives of some of the world's poorest people, as well as benefiting British citizens.

While we note that unskilled migration potentially offers significant development benefits (benefits that are currently lost because the government has closed Tier 3 of the PBS, which would allow for low-skilled migration from outside the EU), we focus in particular on skilled migration, because this is the area in which we think there is most possibility for shaping policy. The paper sets out three possible positions that the government could take to resolve multiple and potentially competing objectives with respect to migration and development.

Development on the Move Working Paper 5

Related items

  1. Doctor with patient for consultation, medical advice or procedure at clinic

    Taken to heart: Inequalities in heart disease in Scotland

    More than 7.6 million people across the UK live with cardiovascular disease (CVD), around twice as many as live with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer combined. 
  2. A beautiful sunset in the Scottish highlands with renewable energy wind turbines far into the horizon

    Skills passports: An essential part of a fair transition

    This month, government will publish its Clean Energy Workforce Strategy. This plan covers two aims. First, filling the growing demand for skills in clean energy industries is essential to keep on track to reach the government’s clean power…
  3. The Bank of England is watched over by a statue of the Duke of Wellington seated on his horse

    Fixing the leak: How to end the £22 billion annual taxpayer losses at the Bank of England

    The Bank of England increased its interest rates over recent years, aimed at reducing inflation. But this has also had an unintended effect on the Bank of England’s massive government bond buying – ‘quantitative easing’ – programme.