The Relationship Between Immigration And Growth

The Office for Budget Responsibility appears to be recommending that the UK increase immigration to promote growth. Why ?

Well, it boils down to a very simple argument, it goes like this; The only sector in the UK that is growing is the service sector. The service sector needs people to ‘service’. If the number of people increase then the service sector continues to grow. Increased population should also see a stimulus for the construction industry. The primary sector, which involves the extraction of resources directly from the Earth, this includes farming, mining and logging, and the secondary sector, which involves the processing products from primary industries (production) are in terminal decline and even the service sector itself is under pressure from online efficiency.

Clark’s Sector Model (1950)

By continually increasing the population of the country it is possible to create the illusion of economic growth but this con trick can not go on forever. Perpetual growth within a finite structure is as impossible as perpetual motion.

The lower birth rate counteracting increased longevity should be seen as a sign that our society is self-righting and naturally compensating for medical developments. It should be welcomed as a possible new stage in human social development and our leaders should attempt to adapt to this new paradigm.

Decreasing UK birth rate. Uptick in the last decade is caused by cultural changes as a consequence of immigration.

In fact if other places in the world had reached a similar stage then the issues associated with essential finite resources like water which arise from a massively overpopulated world, currently 7 billion, would be largely assuaged and the planet would be a more peaceful place.

But all of this does not sit comfortably with capitalism which demands perpetual economic growth to sustain itself.

And if that weren’t bad enough only the wealthiest 5% of the UK population benefit from from the so called economic growth derived from immigration while the other 95% of the population bear the costs which sees their own living standards fall in real terms.

I guess the question that every person currently living in this country, regardless of whether they were born here or not, need to ask themselves is just how many people do you want to share this country with ? According to the 2011 census the current UK population is 63,182,000. How big has the poplulation got to get before our leaders recognise the folly of immigation fueled economic growth ? 80 million ? 100 million ? 200 million ?

What kind of country do you want to live in ?

For more thoughts on this subject please read Peak Employment and Immigation: Cui Bono

The Office for Budget Responsibility said that spending on the state pension, social care and healthcare will rise from 14 per cent of Britain’s GDP to almost a fifth.

The report found that allowing more than 140,000 immigrants into Britain a year, equivalent to 6million people, would help increase the overall number of people who are in work and improve public finances.

Its analysis suggests that Britain’s borrowing as a propotion of GDP would rise to 99 per cent if there is a steady flow of immigrants. If there was a complete ban on immigrants, borrowing would rise to 174 per cent of GDP.

The Telegraph