Cras wrote:
Well that's the issue, isn't it. Everything is a race to the bottom. Whenever someone's willing to work for a pittance to do a job, regardless if they're native or immigrant, the market value of that worker drops. Which means jobs going to those people who will work for less and less money each and every time.
Exactly. I mean, where I live in the southern parts, there's no practical difference between 'Eastern Europeans' (the definition of whom is rather nebulous) 'taking' low-paid jobs from locals than if those jobs go to people from generally poorer areas of the country like Tyneside or Greater Manchester who've relocated. Or people who live with family members or in social housing and need less money for housing costs. Or under-21s, apprentices, etc, who don't get the full minimum wage. The list is endless. Migrants are just a more convenient scapegoat than others. TBH, I'd be far more concerned about the rise in unpaid forced workfare, as that is taking away the bottom rung of the employment ladder and very harmful for equality of opportunity,amongst other issues.
I have a
lot of sympathy and respect for 'Eastern Europeans', incidentally. (My own girlfriend counts herself as Eastern European to some extent.) Many I've known have improved their own personal situations while being here in the way they couldn't in their own countries, or not to the same amount. If anything the 'Eastern Europeans' often are stuck in employment they are over-qualified for rather than seeking bottom-end wages; many I've met had/have postgraduate qualifications that they can't use, and find having an obviously foreign name a real red flag to employers when they try and apply for employment, as if employers only see worthy of using them for low-wage menial jobs. One Polish girl I've known for years has said that she wishes she could Anglicise her name for job applications to greatly improve the chance of an interview! They're certainly not some of privileged group that always gets first in the employment queue.