This book discusses the demand for migrant labour both conceptually and empirically with a focus on the UK. With the number of migrant workers at a record high, the regulation of labour immigration is one of the most controversial public policy issues in high‐income countries. A central question in these debates is how to link the admission of migrant workers to the ‘needs’ of the domestic labour market and national economy more generally. What these needs are, how they vary across sectors and occupations, and how they change during periods of economic growth and crisis are highly contested. A ... More

This book discusses the demand for migrant labour both conceptually and empirically with a focus on the UK. With the number of migrant workers at a record high, the regulation of labour immigration is one of the most controversial public policy issues in high‐income countries. A central question in these debates is how to link the admission of migrant workers to the ‘needs’ of the domestic labour market and national economy more generally. What these needs are, how they vary across sectors and occupations, and how they change during periods of economic growth and crisis are highly contested. A key theme is the importance of ‘system effects’ that ‘produce’ certain types of domestic labour shortages. Heavily influenced by the state, system effects arise from the institutional and regulatory frameworks of the labour market and from wider public policies (e.g. welfare policies), many of which are not ostensibly to do with the labour market — hence the book's emphasis of the link between immigration and public policy more generally. The empirical chapters include quantitative analysis of the changing role of migrant workers, and in‐depth examinations of demand for migrant workers in six sectors: health; social care; hospitality; food production; construction; and financial services. The book concludes with a comparative analysis of research and policy approaches to assessing labour shortages, with a particular focus on the potential lessons of the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), whose work has been heavily influenced by the research for this book, for current debates about immigration reform in the US.