Foreigners working in the UK have been shown to generate an estimated £210bn each year for the British economy as well as 15% of all the country´s output.
The research report from Lloyds Bank says that these skilled workers are now not only a prime driver of the UK economy but also that they are outperforming their counterparts who were born in the UK.
Referring to these people as “inpats”, the report says that their numbers have doubled from 7.3% of the total number of workers in 1997 to 15% this year. The number of foreign workers has grown from 2.6m in 2004 to 4.6m today.
The greatest majority are from the US and 75% of them were found to be engaged in such managerial, technical and professional work as engineering, IT, research laboratories.
This compares with 34% of Canadian and 29% of French workers engaged in professional jobs.
American workers were the most qualified, according to the report, with more than 50% having gained some university education. Only 26% of people born in Britain had attended university, which Lloyds Bank said was lower than the average share of inward talent from the EU.
