Migration to the UK is sky-high. To understand why, we can look at humanitarian reasons, post covid hiring, and a surge of foreign students. We also see Britain welcoming more Hong Kongers:
Typical of the world, the UK economy will benefit from its new residents.
Global Migration
Global migration to richer countries is on the upswing. Like the UK, Australia and Spain are reporting record numbers. Below, the graph covers the EU and the seven high income nations listed in the starred note:
The reasons vary.
According to The Economist, many Indians and Nigerians are leaving home, perhaps for the jobs that need a work force where unemployment is at all time lows. A second possibility is depreciated emerging market currencies that mean money sent home has more spending power. As for country specific nudges, Germany and India agreed that more Indian students would work and study in Germany. Then, on the local level, Newfoundland and Labrador, at immigration 20 times pre-pandemic levels, now have a Ukrainian bakery and Borsch.
Our Bottom Line: Human Capital
In the United States, immigrants have had a positive impact by starting new firms that create jobs. Or, as a new NBER paper explains, immigrants “act more as ‘job creators” than ‘job takers.'” They also tell us that immigrants tend to start new firms at a higher rate than people born in the U.S. And furthermore, ranging in size from small to very large, the firms become major employers.
Looking at the 2017 Fortune 500, the NBER researchers identified where the founders were born by tracing firms’ “genealogical trees” back to 1743. As a result, they found immigrants were the founders of a whopping 449 firms.
Immigrants’ firms are also 35 percent more likely to hold patents and, as sources of innovation, boost productivity:
As economists, we can return to human capital. Defined as the store of knowledge that people accumulate, human capital propels economic growth. As entrepreneurs, immigrants bring valuable human capital to their new homes.
My sources and more: Yesterday, two articles and an NBER paper were ideal complements. Connecting immigration and entrepreneurship, the paper provided insight about new UK statistics. while The Economist conveyed a bigger migration picture. As a final step, I recommend The Border Within The Economics of Immigration in an Age of Fear.
