Even on the minimum
wage, migrant workers from Romania and Bulgaria would be immensely better off
if they were to move to the UK when our labour market is opened to them next year. That is the conclusion of a study issued
today by Migrationwatch.
The
study found that, after allowing for differences in the cost of living;
- A single worker would be
4 or 5 times better off than at home; - A worker with a spouse and
2 children would be 8 or 9 times better off; - The same family would be
4 times better off than a family on the average wage at home; - A single worker who saved
20% of his take home pay in Britain would be saving every week up to 2 weeks
pay on the minimum wage at home. A
family would save 2 or 3 weeks pay every week.
A comparison with the
situation of Polish workers already in Britain today shows that the economic
incentives for Romanian and Bulgarian workers will be twice as great.
In addition, child
benefit for two children (even if they remain in their home countries) amounts
to a week’s take home pay at the minimum wage in Romania and rather more in
Bulgaria.
If
the worker should lose his job in Britain unemployment pay here is equivalent to
more than twice the take home pay at the minimum wage in Romania or
Bulgaria.
Commenting, Sir Andrew
Green, Chairman of Migrationwatch said “The wage differences turn out be simply
stunning. The previous government made a huge mistake by agreeing to accession treaties
that granted full access to our labour market to workers from countries that
have only 1/5th of our GDP per head.
Given that the economic incentives for Romanian and Bulgarian workers
are twice those now enjoyed by Polish workers, it would be absurd to suggest
that there will not be a significant inflow”.