1. Migration and the London economy key developments
Ian Gordon
Geography Department / LSE London
London School of Economics
Conference on ‘Migration and the transformation of London: in international perspective’, LSE, 27th June 2014

2. London’s New Migrant Workforce
Among London’s working age pop (not in education)
37% came from abroad in past 30 years (26% in past 15)
Split 3:1 poor:rich country origins
tho’ many others from Rich Cs have come and gone
60% have higher/age21+ qualifications [cf 51% UK born]
85% male migrants are working [cf. 82% UK-born]
tho’ only 65% females [cf. 76% UK born].
just 3% are claiming benefit [cf 4% UK-born]
migrant hourly pay 14% below UK-born on average
tho’ gap only 10% for those in UK years
and wide rich/poor country contrast : +14% versus -27%
Not simple dualisation
Great variety of migrants / experiences
But linked to both ends of this (very unequal) city economy

3. At the Bottom End of the Labour Market
In worst paying 20% of jobs:
half of all London workers are (post-’84) migrants
including half of new migrants from poor countries
though these progressively move on over time
Crowding-in depresses wages in this quintile
by up to 15% in wake of peak inflow around 2000
national minimum wage scarcely moderates this in London
Has stimulated increase in this segment of jobs
But lowered work incentive for all marginal groups
with significantly fewer reporting interest in paid work

4. At Top End Proportion of highly qualified migrants:
always has been higher in London than in RUK
but boosted since introduction of point-based controls
now c.94% for rich countries and c. 70% for poor countries
Still issues raised about impact on high skill recruiting
but half of Tier 2 admissions coming to London jobs
25-30% to City/Westminster/Tower hamlets alone
part of general link to finance/ITC and big cities
as elsewhere, many on intra-company transfers
including IT workers notably from India
May be positive impacts on innovation
but not as strong/clear yet as for US
especially on commercialisation
might depend a lot on which migrants