It pays to read the small print, especially when it comes to immigration. Because everyone is obsessed by net migration figures – the number of people arriving minus the number of people leaving – the latest statistics look rather good. 204,000 more people arrived in the UK than left in the 12 months to June – a drop of more than two-thirds compared with the year before. It sounds like the right sort of trajectory if you think that long term migration trends aren’t sustainable.
But it’s not actually the net figures we should be looking at: it’s the gross number of people arriving. And alongside that, the nature of the people leaving. Neither looks anything but troubling. About 59,000 16- to 24-year-olds left the country in that time along with a further 52,000 25- to 30-year-olds. The Office for National Statistics described this as part of a ‘gradual increase in levels of emigration’. Granted, we don’t know the motivation behind the trend. Young people are footloose, up for adventure, keen for new experiences and may ultimately return home. If that’s the reason behind the departures, it wouldn’t be so bad.
