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Migrant workers constitute a vital component of many Western labour markets. Although migrants can benefit greatly by moving to higher-wage economies, it is important to compare their labour-market outcomes with those of native-born workers. In this paper, we discuss factors that have been found to influence labour-market success in the receiving country and examine the actual performance of recent migrants to the UK. The UK provides a good case study for conducting such an exercise because of the very large increases in immigration that have been seen over the past decade. We find that labour-market performance varies greatly between migrant groups and that outcomes have changed noticeably following the UK government's decision to allow migrants from Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries more or less free access to the labour market after EU enlargement in 2004. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses two recent UK surveys to investigate the determinants of language proficiency and the effect of language on earnings and employment probabilities of non-white immigrants. We address the problem of endogenous choice of language acquisition and measurement error in language variables. Our results show that language acquisition, employment probabilities, as well as earnings differ widely across non-white immigrants, according to their ethnic origin. Language proficiency has a positive effect on employment probabilities, and lack of English fluency leads to earning losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the central indicator of the effects of migration on the earnings of unemployed people in Great Britain. The relocation of people who are unemployed or threatened by unemployment are usually based on a very short period of observation following migration. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the earnings of migrants may increase partly because their volume of employment will increase, and partly because they will have more productive work. On the other hand, its is highly probable that for people who migrate when they have become unemployed, the labor market situation will get worse.

This paper assesses the performance of immigrants in the UK labour market. After reviewing the changes in the source countries of immigration using data from the GHS over the period 1973–92, we document the significantly higher level of schooling attained by immigrants relative to natives. This education gap has risen over successive cohorts primarily because of changes in the national origin of immigrants. Our analysis of relative wages shows that the main group of disadvantaged immigrants are blacks who have significant foreign work experience. However, there are strong assimilation effects for this group so that this disadvantage is reduced significantly as duration in the United Kingdom increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]