According to a recent report from Experian called Attracting Talent, migrant labour will continue to be a major force in the success of the UK economy. 

The report also highlights that immigrants from countries in Central & Eastern Europe are increasingly highly skilled.  What all this is doing for wage inflation isn’t made clear, but presumably employers are enjoying a little downwards pressure on pay.

When reading the above you’re probably saying, tell me  something I didn’t already know.  The media coverage of this area has been significant.  One area the report mentions, however, I’d not heard raised before:

Tim Sydenham, Associate Director of Economic Policy and Research at Experian, is quoted as saying,

“… the research found that international migrants settling in the UK are highly entrepreneurial, although it often takes time for them to develop the knowledge, skills and support necessary to initiate an enterprise in the UK.”

The last part of that sentence rings true for just about all of us!

In fact there’s a long heritage of immigrants providing the UK, the US and many other countries with a boost of entrepreneurial impetus.  Interesting to consider what impact this has on an indigenous population’s own entrepreneurial spirit.

Technorati tags: skills, immigration, workforce, UK economy, entrepreneur