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The British unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in the second quarter of 2009, meaning that 2.4 million workers were jobless, including over 900,000 youth under 25. The number of UK-born workers was 25.1 million, down 625,000 from a year earlier, while the number of foreign-born workers was 3.7 million, up 22,000.

Despite an unemployment rate projected to reach 10 percent in 2010, many British employers continue to hire migrants because they say they cannot find qualified British workers, especially to fill jobs in hotels and restaurants and to provide health care services. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said: "Migrant workers will continue to be relatively attractive to UK employers ? even in a recession when many UK-born people are jobless. The best way to provide 'British jobs for British workers' is to make Brits better equipped to compete in the jobs market rather than raise barriers to skilled migrants."

Non-EU foreigners enter the UK to work via five tiers or channels (www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk). Tier one is for highly skilled workers who do not need a UK sponsor; tier two is for skilled workers who need a UK employer sponsor and job offer; tier three is for unskilled foreign workers and is currently suspended; tier four is for foreigners sponsored by a British university or school; and tier five is for temporary visitors who are also allowed to work during part of their stay, such as a working holiday makers.

In August 2009, the independent Migration Advisory Committee that advises the government on tier-two skilled foreign worker and intra-company transfer admissions projected that 50,000 non-EU foreigners would be admitted under tier two in 2009, down from 69,000 in 2008. The opposition Conservative Party, leading in polls before elections that must be held by June 2010, has promised to impose a cap on migrant worker admissions.

The MAC made 16 recommendations to tighten procedures for admitting tier two skilled foreign workers, but did not recommend restricting tier two migrants to occupations deemed to have labor "shortages." The MAC recommended higher salaries--employers would have to offer skilled foreign workers without college degrees at least L32,000 ($52,250) a year, up from L24,000, although skilled foreigners coming to fill jobs in shortage occupations such as nurses could be offered less, at least L20,000 a year. The MAC also recommended that vacant jobs be advertised at least four weeks in the government's Jobcentreplus, up from one or two weeks.

The MAC also recommended that intra-company transfers (ICTs) be employed at the foreign branch of the multinational at least a year before arriving in the UK, and that they not have an automatic right to apply for British citizenship after five years in the UK. ICTs were half of tier-two admissions in 2008, and half of ICTs were Indian IT workers. The UK Border Agency in August 2009 made it clear that employers should not displace a current employee to open a job for an intra-company transfer.

Lady Baroness Scotland, appointed attorney general in June 2007, was fined L5,000 in September 2009 for employing an unauthorized Tongan woman for six months without keeping required documentation. The woman reportedly overstayed a student visa to work, a common occurrence for the 110,000 foreign students admitted each year for 12 months or more. Scotland, who paid the woman L6 an hour, just over the minimum wage, helped to enact the Asylum, Immigration and Nationality Act of 2006 that requires employers to verify the legal status of the workers they hire.

Citizenship. The Home Office in August 2009 released a paper, "Earning the Right to Stay in Britain," that proposed a new "points test for citizenship." In 2008, some 159,000 foreigners became naturalized British citizens after three to five years of legal UK residence. Half were spouses or children of a British citizen and will not be covered by the new points test.

Under the new system, foreigners would receive five-year renewable permits that would allow them to become British citizens within one to 10 years depending on the points they earn for English language ability, earnings, qualifications, volunteering, special artistic or scientific merit, and living in areas experiencing population decline.

The UK population rose to 61.4 million in 2008, a result of almost 800,000 births; a quarter of the births in England and Wales were to mothers born outside the UK. The UK received a net 13,000 so-called A8 nationals from Poland and other Eastern European countries in 2008, down sharply because of the recession.

Ireland. Unemployment in Ireland doubled between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 to 223,000, and approached 12 percent in summer 2009; unemployment among youth jumped most. The Irish economy is in a depression, defined as a contraction in economic output of 10 percent or more from peak to trough.

Between 2002 and 2008, the number of Eastern Europeans in Ireland rose from 10,000 to 200,000. Most studies conclude that these Polish and other migrants accelerated economic growth in Ireland and helped to hold down Irish wage increases; about 80 percent of the Eastern Europeans in Ireland worked, while 60 percent of the Irish were in the labor force. Eastern Europeans have been leaving Ireland?their number fell by over 24,000 in the first quarter of 2009.

Some 30,000 non-EU foreigners were employed in Ireland in summer 2009. In August 2009, the period after layoff that these non-EU foreigners have to search for another Irish employer was increased by three to six months. The government said that non-EU migrants "have made a contribution to Ireland's economy and society and we need to give them some breathing space to get back to work."

Some young Irish citizens move to New York and Boston in search of work. Many enter the US on tourist visas and then work in construction or pubs illegally; most say they will stay if they can find jobs.

With a 67-33 percent vote, Irish voters on October 2, 2009 approved the Lisbon Treaty that aims to streamline EU decision-making processes and create a full-time EU president. In June 2008, Irish voters rejected the treaty on a 53-47 percent vote.

Kahanec, Martin and Klaus Zimmermann. 2009. EU Labour Markets After Post- Enlargement Migration. www.iza.org/