In reply to FactorXXX:
> Possibly, the question is whether they have been displaced, as opposed to replaced.
> There is no denying that many unskilled jobs have been filled by Eastern European workers, but they haven't made the British workers unemployed, instead they've moved to better paid or better jobs.
> Replaced.
> The UK workers replaced by Eastern Europeans generally end up in the service sector and certainly don't go to better paid jobs.
> Low-skill EU immigrants usually cluster in low-tech manufacturing, construction, And cleaning jobs in general, but are disproportionately less likely than unskilled UK-born workers to hold managerial roles.
> This is how it works in my experience of the manufacturing sector: -
> The Eastern Europeans are better educated than their UK counterparts and it's quite common to have degree educated people at the very bottom level of the shop floor. They're motivated to work and are willing to work shit hours at short notice, etc. which pretty much makes them the perfect employee. Because of their education and motivation, they are the ones that are invariably promoted to such jobs as 'Team Leaders'.
I don't have a problem with that, companies will employ those who are the most productive and motivated - that's good for businesses and the economy at large , which in turn provides more opportunities fort a greater number of people.
The fact is that British workers will have certain advantages over eastern eruopean workers, and vice versa, hence why they tend to cluster in specific sectors as the private sector will make the best use of each, this is the reality of a flexible labour market, nobody said it's perfect, but so far, it seems that the UK natives - on the aggregate - are benefiting from it.
> Maybe nationally, there isn't a 'problem' with immigration, but to say there isn't a problem in some geographic areas and industry sectors is perhaps a little bit na£ve. Maybe if this sort of problem was recognised and discussed without accusations of xenophobia being thrown about then we wouldn't be facing the prospect of Brexit?
You are perfectly right. And we've discussed it rationally, with eyes opened to actual evidence, and I haven't accused you of xenophobia, and you haven't accused me of "sneering metropolitan elite", if only it could be the same everywhere.
I have no problem with this topic being discussed this way, but the topic has been hijacked by populists who blatantly distort the facts to blame immigration and foreigners for political gain, to the point that the majority of the population has a completely biased perception of the reality of immigration in this country - that's what's pissing me off.
Post edited at 13:57