Most migrants ‘earning too little to make positive contribution to economy'

COMPANIES are becoming more reliant on cheap foreign labour to plug staffing gaps - but most migrant workers don't earn enough to help boost the economy, a think tank said.

- Michael Knowles

The Centre for Migration Control said more than 70% of people who came to the UK to work last year are not on wages that make a "positive economic contribution".

It said foreign workers must make more than £38,000 to "break even".

But the number who earn less than that and instead become "a burden" to taxpayers is on the increase.

Latest figures show 51% of migrant workers earned less than £38,000 in 2021, but that rose to 55% in 2022.

Experts claimed this is down to a surge in foreign workers arriving on health and social care visas.