''IMMIGRATION, immigration, immigration'', shouted a headline in the Sun, a right-wing tabloid newspaper, the week that Britain voted to leave the European Union. It followed weeks of campaigning from the Leave side assuring voters that they would ''take back control'' and restrict EU migration if Britain left the club. Now that the referendum has just been won in favour of Brexit, what will happen to the EU migrants currently in Britain - and to British nationals living in the EU? Some 3m EU nationals live in Britain, compared with 1.2m Britons who live on the continent. The volume of EU migrants coming to Britain has increased since the club was expanded in 2004. Last year net migration from the EU was at a historic high, mostly because fewer Brits were moving abroad. Many consider this a boon: according to research from the Centre for Economic Performance, a think-tank, EU migrants are more likely to be university-educated, less likely to claim benefits and more likely to be in a job than the native-born population.
This article was published online by the Economist on June 27, 2016
Link to article here
Related publications
Why immigration is no reason to leave the EU, Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco Ottaviano, John Van Reenen and Jonathan Wadsworth. Article in CentrePiece Volume 21, Issue 1, Summer 2016
Brexit and the Impact of Immigration on the UK, Swati Dhingra, Gianmarco Ottaviano, John Van Reenen and Jonathan Wadsworth, CEP Brexit Analysis Paper No.05, May 2016
Related links
Jonathan Wadsworth webpage
Swati Dhingra webpage
Gianmarco Ottaviano webpage
John Van Reenen webpage
Labour Markets Programme webpage
Trade Programme webpage
Growth Programme webpage
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