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Department publishes reports on migrant workers in Northern Ireland

The Department for Employment and Learning today published three reports on migrant workers in Northern Ireland.
The reports outlined the reasons behind, the economic impacts of, and the public’s attitude to migrant workers. The reports were undertaken by the Institute for Conflict Research, Oxford Economics and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).
The Economic, Labour Market and Skills Impacts of Migrant Workers in Northern Ireland report undertaken by Oxford Economics, found that overall migrant workers have had a beneficial impact on the Northern Ireland labour market, contributing almost 40,000 jobs and £1.2billion in 2008.

The Experiences of Migrant Workers in Northern Ireland report, undertaken by the Institute for Conflict Research, identified that the decision to move to Northern Ireland was made mainly, but not solely, for economic reasons. It also discovered that whilst migrant workers are generally happy living and working in Northern Ireland, less than one in five plan to stay permanently.

In addition, public attitudes to migrant workers were identified from the results of the NISRA Omnibus Survey 2009. This survey indicated a broadly positive attitude towards migrant workers and show little change in the public’s attitude from previous surveys in 2007 and 2008.

Sir Reg Empey, the Minister for Employment and Learning said: "I welcome the publication of these reports and the many positives they highlight. Migrant workers continue to play an important part in shaping our local communities and in contributing to a more diverse and robust Northern Ireland economy.

"My department remains committed to ensuring their economic and societal contribution is recognised and that their employment rights, as for all Northern Ireland workers, is protected by a modern and effective employment rights infrastructure."

The reports are available to view and download from the DEL website: http://www.delni.gov.uk/skillsimpactsmigrantworkers
http://www.delni.gov.uk/migrantworkersexperiences
http://www.delni.gov.uk/attitudestomigrantworkers.

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