The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published a list of occupations in which there is a skills shortage in the UK.
The study follows a request from the Government to provide advice on which shortages of skilled labour can be filled sensibly through immigration.
The shortage lists will be used in the new points-based system for immigrants from outside of the European Economic Area to gain entry clearance or leave to remain in the UK.
The MAC’s report contains two recommended lists, one for the whole of the UK and one for Scotland. The lists consist of skilled occupations and job titles for which the Committee believes there is a shortage of viable workers’ roles that it concluded would be sensible to fill through immigration, if only as a short-term measure.
A similar list was produced by the UK Borders Agency in July, which would cover about one million workers. While the MAC’s list is longer, it claims the occupations would only account for about 700,000 employees.
Professor David Metcalf, the MAC chair, described the report as a “landmark” in the provision of evidence-based advice to the Government. He said: “It breaks new ground in combining detailed data analysis with evidence from employers within a consistent and robust economic framework. This is the most comprehensive analysis of this kind ever undertaken anywhere in the world.”
Dr Diane Coyle, a member of MAC, added: “We believe our recommendations achieve the right balance between the needs of individual employers and those of the UK labour market and economy in the long term.”
However, Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson, said there was little point in making the rules tighter when the Government had failed to reintroduce exit checks. He said: “The points-based system has grown out of unprecedented levels of illegal immigration and a criminal underestimation of the amount of migrants from Eastern Europe.” n
