ABSTRACT
The role of immigrants in the labour market is receiving increasing publicpolicy attention in the UK. The UK government has increasingly emphasised the development of a ‘managed migration policy’ designed to meet the needs of the UK economy (Somerville, 2007) with migrants playing an important role in filling labour shortages and addressing skill deficiencies. There were a number of managed migration routes for migrants from beyond the EU. These include the Work Permit system (for non-European Economic Area migrants filling specific vacancies), the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme and a number of special schemes focusing on specific sectors at the lower end of the labour market where posts have proved difficult to fill (including Sector Based Schemes and the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme). In 2006 a points-based system (PBS) for managing labour migration was announced (Home Office, 2006), to be rolled out in 2008. The PBS is designed to maximise the economic contribution of migration, under the guidance of a Migration Advisory Committee, which will advise ministers on where migration might sensibly fill gaps in the labour market.
