MMU says migrant workers are the answer to skills gap

4:40pm Tuesday 7th October 2008

A STUDY into migrant workers in Crewe, Warrington and Cheshire claims the new population could plug the area’s ‘skills gap’.

The study into economic migration and the skills of migrant workers has been published this week by the Cheshire and Warrington Economic Alliance.

It found that many of the thousands of Eastern European migrants who have come to live in Crewe are not realising their potential.

CWEA commissioned Crewe’s MMU Cheshire to carry out the research as a response to findings from the recent review of the economy by SQW Consulting and Cambridge Econometrics which suggested that migrant workers could potentially fill the skills gaps in the sub region.

The research found that most migrant workers were qualified to A’level equivalent or higher, but none were able to use their skills in their current work.

Most were currently working in low-level, unskilled, manual jobs.

Salary aspirations indicated that many migrants underestimate their skills and the saleability of these on the labour market.

Very few migrants had any idea of the type of work that they could apply for in the UK, where to look for job opportunities at graduate level and how to use places like Jobcentre Plus outlets to their benefit.

The research was carried out amongst migrant workers from the eight countries that joined the European Union in 2004.

CWEA chief executive Martin Lee said: “The migrant workers coming into Cheshire and Warrington are generally young and well educated.

“They could prove an invaluable pool of skilled labour for employers as Cheshire and Warrington’s incumbent population is ageing more so than other areas of the North West.

“We need to harness the skills of these workers and ensure that they are motivated to stay in the area.”

Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the Northwest Regional Development Agency, added: “The region needs to work on keeping our homegrown talented young workers but should also maximise the benefits of having young skilled migrant workers coming here.

“It is clear from this research that not enough migrants feel able to make that step up from low to higher skilled employment.

“Making them aware of the many opportunities for progression is something which must be worked on in order to secure a thriving regional economy.”