The wage impact of immigration into the UK after the Great Recession

Summary

Over the last two decades, immigration has become a major policy concern in the UK, largely driven by EU enlargement, the Great Recession, and the UK’s exit from the EU. With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence indicates that the UK faces labour shortages due to the withdrawal of EU workers. This paper is aimed at assessing the effect of immigration on the wages of native UK workers in the decade after the Great Recession and before the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. It provides new evidence on the wage impact of immigration in the UK from 2009 to 2020. On balance, the evidence suggests that fears about adverse consequences of rising UK immigration have been unfounded, with immigration into the UK having a positive effect on native wages after the Great Recession. This positive effect remains when internal migration adjustments are incorporated.