Foreign-born men in Britain have enjoyed higher levels of employment since the financial crisis struck than men born in the country, a think-tank has found.
Despite a drop in overall employment during the economic downturn, male migrants in the UK have had higher levels of employment than “native-born men” from 2007 onwards, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of campaign group Migration Watch UK, said: “It is time for a thorough assessment of the impact of immigration on the employment of British workers that this report only touches on.
“The effects may not show up statistically in a labour force of nearly 30 million but the anecdotal evidence is very strong.”
The findings feature in the think-tank’s 420-page International Migration Outlook report for 2013.
Looking at whether the financial crisis reversed progress made by migrants over the past decade, the report said: “In countries such as the Czech Republic, the UK and Poland, the situation has improved for migrants.
“Foreign-born men have reversed the pre-crisis shortfall and are doing better than native-born men.”
The report also found the UK and Germany are the biggest recipients of migrants fleeing countries most affected by the financial crisis, particularly in southern Europe, with numbers almost doubling.
Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, said: “It is important to recognise migrants are not one homogenous group, and different sorts of migrants have been affected differently.”
What stood out for him was a big gender difference foreign-born men have seen less of a decline in their employment rate than UK-born men but “the employment rate of foreign-born women has seen a bigger decline than that of UK-born women in the same period.”