Nigerians, Indians fill up more job positions in UK than Britons

Nigerians and Indians recorded the most growth in employment in the UK between 2019 and 2023, according to data from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). 

HMRC is the UK taxing authority that collects all direct and indirect taxes, and administers benefits and tax credit payments to residents.

According to a freedom of information (FOI) request made by Neil O’Brien, member of parliament and former government minister, there were about 10 percent fewer employments for European Union (EU) nationals in the UK, and 69 percent more for people from outside the UK in the period under review.

The FOI was made before last month’s general election.

O’Brien said the figures showed the “extraordinary changes” in the job market since the introduction of Britain’s new post-Brexit migration system in January 2021.

STEEP DECLINE IN EARNINGS FOR MIGRANTS

Of the 1.481 million more employments which the UK recorded between the requested period, 1.465 million were accounted for by people from outside the EU, while UK nationals recorded 257,000.

“Within that non-EU total, the biggest growth in employments in absolute terms were among nationals of India (+488,000), Nigeria (+279,000), Pakistan (+101,000), and Ghana (+55,000),” O’Brien wrote in the report analysis.

“There were also 175,600 more employments held by people from unspecified other non-EU countries.

“Obviously, there is no lump of labour, and whatever the other pros and cons of migration, there is no fixed number of jobs that migrants are competing for.

“But it is pretty striking that the UK economy has created more additional employments for nationals of both India and Nigeria as single countries than for UK nationals over this period.”

In the UK private sector, non-EU-nationals recorded a 1.2 million increase in employments while UK nationals secured only 29,000.

However, in terms of earnings, India and Nigeria saw steep declines relative to UK nationals.

According to the data, young working-age people from both countries earned 15 and 10 percent more than UK nationals of the same age before the pandemic, and earn less now.

Ben Brindle, an economist at Oxford University’s Migration Observatory think tank, told the Daily Mail that evidence suggests that non-EU migrants are now doing jobs ­previously held by EU workers before Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.