Research Director Sam Bowman’s comments on UKIP’s proposal to lower the UK net migration cap to 50,000 people per year for employment were featured in CityAM.

Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) Sam Bowman said:

Ukip’s line on immigration is intellectually and morally bankrupt. Despite what Ukip claims, immigration is good for virtually everyone in society, rich and poor alike. The evidence is clear that even low-skilled immigration only hurts low-skilled native wages temporarily, and does not affect the number of jobs available to natives at all.

The reason for this is that immigrants demand services as well as supplying them: every job taken by an immigrant also means a new job will be created to supply him or her with their needs.

Bowman added that, contrary to popular belief, immigrants were a net positive to the welfare state. Because immigrants tend to be young and seeking employment, they draw few benefits from the state and have not cost the taxpayer a penny in primary or secondary education.

Furthermore, the ASI argues that immigration could play a crucial role in meeting the pensions and healthcare obligations to Britain's rapidly aging population.

Read the full article here.