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13 Mar 2008
Foreign IT workers are entering the UK from outside the EU in record numbers to take up "mid-level roles", according to the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (ATSCo).
The number of non-EU IT professionals entering the UK has increased by 14 per cent in the past year.
The majority are classed as "intra-company transfers", where multinational organisations relocate workers between offices in different countries.
ATSCo, which obtained the figures from Work Permits UK, said that 38,450 UK work permits were issued to non-EU IT workers last year, compared to 33,756 in 2006.
Ann Swain, chief executive of ATSCo, claimed that the UK is witnessing a reversal of the trend toward off-shoring, and accused organisations of " exploiting the leaky visa system to import cheap labour from abroad".
"There was a fear that support functions would be the thin edge of the wedge and that mid-level IT roles would go offshore next, but what is happening is quite different," she said.
"Foreign IT workers are coming to the UK to take these mid-level roles."
Swain also warned that the influx of foreign workers could accelerate the decline in the number of computer science graduates from UK universities.
"Is it any wonder that so few students are choosing IT when entry-level jobs are being sent offshore and workers are being brought in from overseas for mid-level positions?" she said.
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Do you agree?
I just cant believe what is being said!
I just wanted to say that getting work permits for foreign nationals is not easy as described in the report. The report should remember that there is a shortage in IT staff in UK and thats the reason why the field was in the shortage list in the previous years. And the report should take into point that, the non-UK and non-EU applicants will be chosen only when there are no suitable candidates from UK and EU. I just cant see how they can justify their statement regarding less students are taking up IT. I believe the answer should come from schools rather than foreign nationals.
Posted by: Neo 13 Mar 2008
Foreign IT workers pour into the UK
As much as I regret reading this article I can report that in 1990 when I was employed in a sales position for Third Wave Plc, in West London, they had 300 programmers in their New Delhi offices due to their low cost of employment. Moreover at that time there were a reported 250,000 graduates coming out of Indian universities annually, typically with more than one degree and they with spoken English. At the same time India reportedly had more programmers than the whole of the North American continent. The reason I draw your attention to these statistics is businesses will always outsource or import to realise a reduced labour price. That is virtually the duty of the CEO to ensure a viable operation run on an efficient and economical basis. This is good for the shareholders and possibly the customers but in the long term bad for the United Kingdom. Why? As jobs erode for native employees, wages are kept to a lower rate than they would likely be if no imported or outsourced labour were used. If you even took the typical current blue collar workers average eroded wage in some UK industries of 1.8% over the last three years, compounded losses in ten years can reach near a fifth reduction of income whilst senior management can easily experience increases of a similar amount. That is an economical disaster in any country, which is what is happening to the UK today with Polish plumbers to Polish programmers. Incidentally I am half Polish born in 1947 after the war and living abroad as I have made my own economical calculations rather than rely on Mr. Brown or his equally economically illiterate successor who needs to change his name as much as his distracting eyebrows!
Posted by: Andrew Charnley (Retired IBM Agent/Director) 13 Mar 2008
Shortage of skills
38,000 international workers aren't enough to meet the demands of the IT Industry in the UK or elsewhere. This is not aboue exploiting a leaky visa system or cheap pay but this is about a far greater demand than there is supply of skilled workers. The IT profession has room only for the best irrespective of nationality given the level of competition and the demands that are placed on them. The income that IT workers bring into the country far outweighs the resources they depend on. The chief of ATSCO appears to be rather short sighted in her judgement without focussing on the wider picture of the gains this has brought to our country.
Posted by: Alex 13 Mar 2008