Skilled immigration policy very typically targets skills shortages where they cannot be recruited domestically. Simply firing a workforce to get those same skills cheaper, which is what is happening here, is a terrible move for a countries workforce.
- Wages wind up going backwards.
- Wages fail to keep up with inflation meaning lower discretionary expenditure flowing into the economy.
- You wind increasing involuntary unemployment.
- With rises in involuntary unemployment you wind up increasing crime, from petty theft through to more major crime.
- With lower returns to economy on an individual basis you economically have less to invest in things like health, education, infrastructure, creation of export businesses on a per individual basis, despite growing GDP. You've created a hole but made it look like growth.
You don't need to go full domestic industry protectionism to avert the above, but you absolutely should not be firing an existing skilled domestic workforce with the explicit intent to replace them with skilled immigration if you want to perform better as an economy.
Because individual businesses can and will try to exploit the issue, this is why it should be regulated. To fail to do so hurts the economy at large when you are not filling a genuine skills shortage.
- Wages wind up going backwards.
- Wages fail to keep up with inflation meaning lower discretionary expenditure flowing into the economy.
- You wind increasing involuntary unemployment.
- With rises in involuntary unemployment you wind up increasing crime, from petty theft through to more major crime.
- With lower returns to economy on an individual basis you economically have less to invest in things like health, education, infrastructure, creation of export businesses on a per individual basis, despite growing GDP. You've created a hole but made it look like growth.
You don't need to go full domestic industry protectionism to avert the above, but you absolutely should not be firing an existing skilled domestic workforce with the explicit intent to replace them with skilled immigration if you want to perform better as an economy.
Because individual businesses can and will try to exploit the issue, this is why it should be regulated. To fail to do so hurts the economy at large when you are not filling a genuine skills shortage.