UK Closing Fast Track IT Immigration

There has been a fast track IT Immigration program in the UK for some time. Since the down turn of the IT jobs market it has been pretty grim for most contractors. According to Contractor UK's Work Status Poll 28% of all UK contractors are out of work as of June 2002. From annecdotal evidence I would guess it might be even worse.

Now as someone who's been an IT Contractor/Consultant for over 7 years, I should be against the fast track immigration program. After all it's threatening my livelyhood isn't it? The UK Government have temporarily suspended it for at least 3 months. My guess it will be at least 6 months before it's back.

However I do believe that immigration is good for the economy. Yes, cheaper rates amongst in particular Indian and Russian programmers has caused competition here. But competition is good. In reality the good Indian and Russian contractors have been good for the market. They generally achieve similar rates to native contractors within a year or two.

While the Pointy Haired managers have been busy moving jobs to large body shops in India, there have been a fair amount of failures in this area. From my experience mainly these failures are often down to a combination of communication difficulties and buzzword compliant opportunists who have setup "me too" body shops in India without hiring decent staff. There are lots of great IT companies in India, but as in any boom you get a bunch of "carpet baggers" run by people who haven't got a clue. (Just look at 95% of the .com companies in the boom in the UK or US)

I dont think in the long term this is a big threat. There are many projects that should be outsourced to India (or wherever) and there are some that shouldnt. The good Indian and Russian consultants tend to end up working in the West (North West?!?) any way.

If businesses can outsource the less skilled or more routine oriented parts of their IT jobs to lower cost areas, they will be more profitable (in theory anyway). The same is true if it's easier for them to find higher skilled staff (such as those coming in on the Fast Track program). This causes a more dynamic economy, with better companies and more jobs in general.

I'm a big believer in open markets. Open markets aren't just for products, but for services as well.

Frederic Bastiat (my favorite Economist) had this to say on a very similar situation 170 years ago:

Bastiat's first published article appeared in April of 1834. It was a response to a petition by the merchants of Bordeaux, Le Havre, and Lyons to eliminate tariffs on agricultural products but to maintain them on manufacturing goods. Bastiat praised the merchants for their position on agricultural products, but excoriated them for their hypocrisy in wanting protectionism for themselves. "You demand privilege for a few," he wrote, whereas "I demand liberty for all."[3] He then explained why all tariffs should be abolished completely. [Mises.org]

In other words if we as IT Consultants demand open markets for the products we consume, we should be willing to accept open markets for our products and services.

Immigration is generally excellent for the economy. Industrialised countries despite the retoric need immigrants. In all levels of the economy. This is also true for developing countries. Who thankfully often see the benefits of skilled immigration, but generally are as bad as developed countries in accepting unskilled immigration.