The Labour Market Impact of Recent Immigration on Ethnic Groups in the UK

The UK experienced has unprecedented levels of immigration in the last decade. These inflows were particularly pronounced following EU enlargement in May 2004, since when the UK has received a huge influx of migrants from Central and Eastern Europe. Although existing studies have suggested that the impact of these migration flows on the UK labour market in general has been small, little is known about the effect on particular demographic sub-groups. We begin to fill this void by examining the effect of recent immigration on the labour market experiences of individuals from different ethnic groups. This analysis is important because of the labour market disadvantages that certain minority groups have previously encountered, the continued rapid population growth experienced by some groups and concerns regarding social cohesion. Using the Labour Force Survey, our econometric estimates suggest that recent immigration has had a small negative impact on labour market outcomes, with a slightly greater effect on native born whites compared to ethnic minorities, although some variation is also found between minority groups.