UK Records Lesser IT Staff

UK Records Lesser IT Staff

Based on statistics garnered by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) from the Home Office, the number of non-EU IT support staff awarded with work visas has slipped by eight percent this year. In 2008, there were 35,000 non-EU IT workers allowed to work in the UK . 
 

The United States is the only country where an increase in non-European IT employees working in the UK is seen. India tops all other nations, with 29,400 work visas issued last year. The number has declined by seven percent, however, this is way better than the number of Americans who moved to the UK to work as IT support. 

 

APSCo's chief executive Ann Swain said in a statement, “It seems crazy that with the economy in a severe downturn and thousands of IT workers having already lost their jobs we are still bringing three times as many foreign IT workers to the UK than during the dot com boom when we had a chronic skills shortage."

 

Swain stated that around 80 percent of non-European IT workers are migrating to the UK on intra-company transfer. Swain also encourages government to hire domestic employees rather than paying workers from other countries.