Why would reducing future numbers of immigrants to levels of numbers of the 1990's be such a problem?

What do you think?

It is also because we are desperately short of qualified staff in many industries including the health industry, agricultural and horticulture, to name but a few.

If we want people to come they will want to bring their families with them.

Why are we short of qualified staff?
So what happened to apprenticeship?Isnt our education system,at the least equal to any other country? Don't most kids get an education?Are we not on the way to becoming over populated?So explain to this simple one why we don't have qualified people.

Because being a nurse, or a doctor, or a teacher is no longer an attractive job so people no longer want to join those professions. People cannot be directed to careers and there are some they shun - like picking soft fruit in season.

Because we have an aging population who are making increasing demands on the health and caring industries.

Because we have been having smaller families for the last 50 plus years so there are not enough young people around to train in all these careers.

That is some reasons to start with

I can't believe it's as simple as that.Somethings gone wrong in this country,we used to have enough candidates,nowadays young people want to do as little as possible.Weve got university courses for everything.Half of the students never find work suited to they're degrees.Thats why half of them never pay there loans back.They are brain washed by the TV.We need a good shake up and shuffle here.Stamp out the greed and corruption,not just here,but all over the world.As I'v said before,make the world a better fairer place,people wouldn't have to look to other countries then.

They do not all have relatives queuing up to come here, obieone.
Many of them come here on their own, meet someone British, marry and have children here.

It's not as simple as people not wanting to train as nurses. Many who apply are turned down. I read recently that it costs £70,000 to train a nurse. Much cheaper to recruit already qualified nurses from overseas.
And I would provide a link to the source of this info, but typically I can't for the life of me remember where I read it. It might even have been here on GN

also there needs to be an increasing number of working people who pay ytax to support the increasing number of longer lasting pensions that are being/will be paid.

What was the number of immigrants in the 1990s?

Why the 1990s? Why not the 1890s? seems a bit of a random date.

So it's not so much that the job is unattractive,more that it's cheaper to recruit from abroad.They save money to spend on what?
The elderly have already paid in for their care,still paying some of them.

Degrees and work placement.

So many students choose degrees that they fancy are topical,or they see as an easy option, rather than researching the job market to find subjects that are in demand. Not all degrees are worth anything, a student only obtaining a 3rd, would have been better off working and progressing, rather than spending 3 years at uni.

However, any degree, demonstrates an ability to learn, that is important in the job market.

Many graduates expect to step into senior positions, but without experience they are not going to, they have to accept menial jobs with equivalent pay whilst they build up that experience.

The best programmer we employed, had an arts degree, nothing related in any way.

Lots of them come because they already have relatives here, say many links.

A person doesnt normally come and/or go in isolation.

Other posts I will answer later

Obieone I think you'll find that most Asian migrant workers come here because they have family or connections. Often in the Asian culture a close male friend is called, uncle. But the majority, from Eastern Europe are young single men and women.

In the Welsh culture a close male friend is called uncle

In the 1990's and for that matter probably the 1980's, no one gave much thought to the levels of migration, as the system was working.

obieone Ah, but along came Tony Blair who had a grand plan.

And before anyone disputes this, it is well documented that many leading labour members have admitted that they got it wrong.

Has anyone seen what is happening in Austria right now There is an 18 mile tail back from the border with Hungary. They are stopping every car and lorry and checking it. They say they will protect their border.
They have passed a law that restricts the right of asylum and allows most claimants to be rejected at the border.
And people say that there is nothing we can do to stop asylum seekers. They are doing this right now in a land locked country in Europe.

Really Petra? Where does one go to find out what's going on in Europe? I suppose that's why I've never felt European, not even the weather gets reported here.

What I want to know is, what's happening in the countries where all these doctors and nurses are coming from? Are they just being trained just for export? If not who cares for the people in the countries of origin?

NfKdumpling Re other countries training people. I was living in Bulgaria when they went into the eu. This country have a population of just over 7 mil. people and a quarter of those are Roma gypsy. Can you imagine what happened when they were told you can now travel anywhere in Europe. It helped a lot of people but not the country.

Only 7 million people? That's the same as Scotland isn't it? So much space! I'm now going to look up stuff about Bulgaria - of which I know nothing. In fact, I'm ashamed to say I know nothing of any of the Eastern European countries. Except that no one wants to live there!

After the war the birth rate rose steadily and peaked in the 1960s Then it dropped drastically (the Pill was invented!). At the same time life expectancy continued the rise that had been going on for many decades. This means that there are an awful lot of us over 50 and a shortage of UK born under 50s. The over 50s are living longer, expecting to retire at the same age as their parents - and they have had small families. You can't have a situation where there are almost as many people retired, and needing pensions and lots of health care, as there are people in the workforce paying taxes and paying into occupational pension schemes. The upshot of this is the country needs immigrants and lots of them. To work in the economy and to work in healthcare. To pay for our pensions. The birth rate has started to go up again more recently, probably because some of our immigrant communities have more babies than those of white UK heritage. This is a good thing. Because if those of us in our 60s are around in our 90s we will need them to look after us.

Spot on Jess